Innovative Memory Systems Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedNovember 23, 2020
Docket1:14-cv-01480
StatusUnknown

This text of Innovative Memory Systems Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc. (Innovative Memory Systems Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Innovative Memory Systems Inc. v. Micron Technology Inc., (D. Del. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF DELAWARE

INNOVATIVE MEMORY SYSTEMS, INC.,

Plaintiff,

v. Civil Action No. 14-1480-RGA

MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC.,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Brian E. Farnan, Michael J. Farnan, FARNAN LLP, Wilmington, DE; Edward C. Flynn (argued), Phillip E. Levy, Andrew Schwerin, ECKERT SEAMANS CHERIN & MELLOTT, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA, Attorneys for Plaintiff.

Frederick L. Cottrell, III, Travis S. Hunter, Tyler E. Cragg, RICHARDS LAYTON & FINGER, PA, Wilmington, DE; Jared Bobrow (argued), Jason Lang (argued), Matthew Bonini, ORRICK, HERRINGTON & SUTCLIFFE LLP, Menlo Park, CA, Attorneys for Defendant.

November 23, 2020 /s/ Richard G. Andrews ANDREWS, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE:

Before me is the issue of claim construction of multiple terms in U.S. Patent Nos. 7,000,063 (“the ’063 patent”) and 6,901,498 (“the ’498 patent”). I have considered the Parties’ Joint Claim Construction Brief. (D.I. 133). I held oral argument via Skype on November 3, 2020. (D.I. 147). I. LEGAL STANDARD “It is a bedrock principle of patent law that the claims of a patent define the invention to which the patentee is entitled the right to exclude.” Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1312 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). “‘[T]here is no magic formula or catechism for conducting claim construction.’ Instead, the court is free to attach the appropriate weight to appropriate sources ‘in light of the statutes and policies that inform patent law.’” SoftView LLC v. Apple Inc., 2013 WL 4758195, at *1 (D. Del. Sept. 4, 2013) (quoting Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1324) (alteration in original). When construing patent claims, a court considers the literal language of the claim, the patent specification, and the prosecution history. Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 52 F.3d 967, 977–80 (Fed. Cir. 1995) (en banc), aff’d, 517 U.S. 370 (1996). Of these sources, “the specification is always highly relevant to the claim construction analysis. Usually, it is dispositive; it is the single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term.” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1315 (internal quotation marks omitted).

“[T]he words of a claim are generally given their ordinary and customary meaning. . . . [Which is] the meaning that the term would have to a person of ordinary skill in the art in question at the time of the invention, i.e., as of the effective filing date of the patent application.” Id. at 1312–13 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). “[T]he ordinary meaning of a claim term is its meaning to [an] ordinary artisan after reading the entire patent.” Id. at 1321 (internal quotation marks omitted). “In some cases, the ordinary meaning of claim language as understood by a person of skill in the art may be readily apparent even to lay judges, and claim construction in such cases involves little more than the application of the widely accepted meaning of commonly understood words.” Id. at 1314.

When a court relies solely upon the intrinsic evidence—the patent claims, the specification, and the prosecution history—the court’s construction is a determination of law. See Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., 574 U.S. 318, 331 (2015). The court may also make factual findings based upon consideration of extrinsic evidence, which “consists of all evidence external to the patent and prosecution history, including expert and inventor testimony, dictionaries, and learned treatises.” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1317–19 (internal quotation marks omitted). Extrinsic evidence may assist the court in understanding the underlying technology, the meaning of terms to one skilled in the art, and how the invention works. Id. Extrinsic evidence, however, is less reliable and less useful in claim construction than the patent and its prosecution history. Id.

“A claim construction is persuasive, not because it follows a certain rule, but because it defines terms in the context of the whole patent.” Renishaw PLC v. Marposs Societa’ per Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1250 (Fed. Cir. 1998). It follows that “a claim interpretation that would exclude the inventor’s device is rarely the correct interpretation.” Osram GMBH v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 505 F.3d 1351, 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). II. BACKGROUND This case is about electronic memory devices. Memory devices are data storage systems composed of memory cells, to which data can be written. Memory cells can be re-written a variable number of times. The number of writes or re-writes to a memory cell varies based on user need and physical limitations of the cell and can be accordingly restricted. A memory cell used for non-volatile data storage allows data storage without requiring power to retain the data stored. Because the cell retains the data stored, however, the cell must be erased before it can take on a different value; cells can be reliably erased and re-written a limited number of times.

Those that can be re-written more than once are called write-many memory cells. Memory cells restricted to only one additional write, on the other hand, are called write-once memory cells. Memory devices contain many memory cells. Common data architecture for non-volatile data storage includes organization of memory cells into “blocks,” which constitute the smallest number of cells that can be simultaneously erased. Blocks are then assigned to logical zones. Defective blocks can arise during manufacture or regular use and can result in memory device failure if there are too many defective blocks in any one zone. Boundaries of logical zones can be adjusted to avoid memory failure by ensuring there is a sufficient number of good blocks in each zone. Zone adjustment can be done, as is relevant here, with firmware shortly after manufacture or by using a “controller” that can “dynamically” adjust zone boundaries in response to block

defects that arise during operation of the memory device. The disputed terms here come from a patent covering limitation of the number of writes to cells in a write-many device (the ’063 Patent) and a patent covering adjustment of logical zone boundaries of assigned blocks in a memory device (the ’498 Patent). The two patents have different inventors and specifications. The following representative claims show the use of the disputed terms. Claim 42 of the ’063 Patent 1. A method for creating a write-once memory device from a write-many memory device, the method comprising: (a) providing a memory device comprising a memory array comprising a plurality of write-many memory cell; and

(b) rendering at least some of the write-many memory cells in the memory array as write- once memory cells by preventing more than one write to said at least some of the write-many memory cells.

(D.I. 138-2, Exh. B (the “’063 Patent”), claim 42) (emphasis added).

Claim 1 of the ’498 Patent

1. A memory system circuit, comprising:

a memory comprising a plurality of blocks of non-volatile storage elements wherein the storage elements within individual ones of the blocks are simultaneously erasable, and

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