Kewazinga Corp. v. Google LLC

District Court, S.D. New York·Decided July 30, 2021·No. 1:20-cv-01106·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK -- -----------------------------------------------------------X : KEWAZINGA CORP., : Plaintiff, : : 20 Civ. 1106 (LGS) -against- : : OPINION & ORDER GOOGLE LLC, : Defendant. : ------------------------------------------------------------ X

LORNA G. SCHOFIELD, District Judge:

Plaintiff Kewazinga Corp. (“Kewazinga”) alleges that Defendant Google LLC (“Google”) infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 9,055,234 (“Navigable Telepresence Method and System”) (the “’234 Patent”), 6,522,325 (“Navigable Telepresence Method and System Utilizing an Array of Cameras”) (the “’325 Patent”) and 6,535,226 (“Navigable Telepresence Method and System Utilizing an Array of Cameras”) (the “’226 Patent”) (collectively, the “Kewazinga Patents”). The parties have presented their proposed constructions of two disputed claim terms -- “array of cameras” and “mosaicing” -- pursuant to Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370 (1996). For the reasons set forth below “array of cameras” is construed to mean “a camera configuration wherein the configuration can be created over time by positioning cameras in relation to each other,” and “mosaicing” is construed as “creating imagery assembled from a plurality of images, or portions thereof, including an alignment process and a composition process.” I. BACKGROUND The Kewazinga Patents pertain to methods and systems that utilize cameras to achieve navigable telepresence. This technology allows for remote, seamless viewing of an environment. Kewazinga contends that Google infringes the Kewazinga Patents through Google Street View, a street-level imagery project that allows users to virtually explore different locations. The parties seek claim construction. They dispute the meaning of two terms: (1) “array of cameras,” which is used in claims 55 and 119 of the ’226 Patent and claims 1, 5, 6, 10, 14, 15

and 29 of the ’325 Patent, and (2) “mosaicing,” which is used in claims 1, 5 and 6 of the ’325 Patent. Claims 1, 3, 13 and 16 of the ’234 Patent also include the terms “mosaic imagery” and/or “mosaic images,” which the parties contend should be construed in accordance with the Court’s construction of the term “mosaicing.” II. STANDARD A. Claim Construction “‘[T]he construction of a patent, including terms of art within its claim,’ is not for a jury but ‘exclusively’ for ‘the court’ to determine.” Teva Pharms. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., 574 U.S. 318, 321 (2015) (citing Markman, 517 U.S. at 390). “[A] district court’s duty at the claim construction stage is . . . to resolve a dispute about claim scope that has been raised by the

parties.” Eon Corp. IP Holdings v. Silver Spring Networks, 815 F.3d 1314, 1319 (Fed. Cir. 2016); accord Zeta Glob. Corp. v. Maropost Mktg. Cloud, Inc., No. 20 Civ. 3951, 2021 WL 2823563, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. July 7, 2021). “This means that, as to claim coverage, the district court must instruct the jury on the meanings to be attributed to all disputed terms used in the claims in suit so that the jury will be able to ‘intelligently determine the questions presented.’” Sulzer Textil A.G. v. Picanol N.V., 358 F.3d 1356, 1366 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (citation omitted); accord Zeta Glob. Corp., 2021 WL 2823563 at *2. In the event “the parties [choose] to treat [certain] terms across [separate] patents as rising and falling together” the Court need not “separately address [every] Patent.” X2Y Attenuators, LLC v. Int’l. Trade Comm’n, 757 F.3d 1358, 1363 n.2 (Fed.

2 Cir. 2014); accord Kewazinga Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 18 Civ. 4500, 2019 WL 3423352, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. July 29, 2019). During claim construction, the court looks “first to intrinsic evidence, and then, if necessary, to the extrinsic evidence.” TEK Glob., S.R.L. v. Sealant Sys. Int’l, Inc., 920 F.3d 777,

785 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (citing Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1317-19 (Fed. Cir. 2005). The intrinsic record comprises the claims, the specification and the prosecution history. Id. Claim terms are presumed to be given their ordinary and customary meaning, as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art (“POSITA”) as of the patent’s priority date, considering the entirety of the patent. Network-1 Techs., Inc. v. Hewlett-Packard Co., 981 F.3d 1015, 1022 (Fed. Cir. 2020). “When the ordinary meaning of the claim language is ‘readily apparent even to lay judges,’ claim construction ‘involves little more than the application of the widely accepted meaning of commonly understood words.’” Green Pet Shop Enters., LLC v. Euro. Home Design, LLC, No. 17 Civ. 6238, 2019 WL 1172069, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 13, 2019) (quoting O2 Micro Int'l Ltd. v. Beyond Innovation Tech. Co., 521 F.3d 1351, 1360 (Fed. Cir. 2008)).

If a claim term does not have an ordinary meaning, it must “be read in view of the specification.” Cont’l Circuits LLC v. Intel Corp., 915 F.3d 788, 796 (Fed. Cir. 2019); accord Zeta Glob. Corp., 2021 WL 2823563, at *2. “[T]he specification is key -- it is highly relevant to the claim construction analysis and the single best guide to the meaning of a disputed term.” Immunex Corp. v. Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC, 977 F.3d 1212, 1218 (Fed. Cir. 2020) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). In addition to the specification, “a court should [] consider the patent’s prosecution history, if it is in evidence.” Cont’l Circuits LLC, 915 F.3d at 796 (internal quotation marks omitted); accord Zeta Glob. Corp., 2021 WL 2823563, at *2. “Like the specification, the prosecution history provides evidence of how the [United States

3 Patent and Trademark Office (‘PTO’)] and the inventor understood the patent.” Cont’l Circuits LLC, 915 F.3d at 796 (alteration in original) (citation omitted). Secondary to the intrinsic evidence is the 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; accord Personalized Media Commc’ns, LLC v. Netflix Inc., No. 20 Civ. 3708, 2020 WL 5026600, at *6 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 25, 2020). “[W]hile extrinsic evidence can shed useful light on the relevant art . . . it is less significant than the intrinsic record in determining the legally operative meaning of disputed claim language.” Cont’l Circuits LLC, 915 F.3d at 799 (internal quotation marks omitted). “Extrinsic evidence may be used only to assist in the proper understanding of the disputed limitation; it may not be used to vary, contradict, expand, or limit the claim language from how it is defined, even by implication, in the specification or file history.” Tempo Lighting, Inc. v. Tivoli, LLC, 742 F.3d 973, 977-78 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (citation omitted); accord Personalized Media Commc’ns, LLC, 2020 WL 5026600, at *6.1

III. DISCUSSION A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Kewazinga Corp. v. Google LLC, (S.D.N.Y. 2021).

Kewazinga Corp. v. Google LLC (Kewazinga Corp. v. Google LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related