Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple, Inc.

784 F. Supp. 2d 703, 100 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1564, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36451, 2011 WL 1304488
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedApril 4, 2011
DocketCase 6:08 CV 88
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 784 F. Supp. 2d 703 (Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mirror Worlds, LLC v. Apple, Inc., 784 F. Supp. 2d 703, 100 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1564, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36451, 2011 WL 1304488 (E.D. Tex. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

LEONARD DAVIS, District Judge.

Having considered the parties’ written submissions and oral arguments, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART Apple’s Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, Motion for New Trial and Motion for Remittitur Pursuant to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 50 and 59 (Docket No. 432); DENIES Apple’s Motion for a Finding of Inequitable Conduct and Good Cause to Re-Open the Record fora Bench Trial (Docket No. 433); 1 DENIES Mirror Worlds’ Motion for (1) Entry of Judgment, (2) Prejudgment Interest, (3) Post Verdict and Prejudgment Damages, (4) Post Judgment Royalties, (5) Enhanced Damages, (6) Attorneys’ and Experts’ Fees, (7) Costs, and (8) Post Judgment Interest (Docket No. 435); GRANTS Apple’s Motion to Strike the October 29, 2010 Declaration of Walter Bratic and Documents Not in Evidence (Docket No. 446); and DENIES Apple’s Motion Regarding Mirror Worlds’ Waiver of Privilege for Documents Listed on the December 9, 2010 Privilege Log (Docket No. 465).

BACKGROUND

Mirror Worlds’ Complaint, filed March 14, 2008, alleges that Apple infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 6,006,227 (“the '227 patent”), 6,638,313 (“the '313 patent”), 6,725,427 (“the '427 patent”) (collectively “the patents-in-suit” or “the patents”), and 6,768,-999. 2

The Patents-In-Suit

The '227 patent issued on December 21, 1999, the '313 patent on October 28, 2003, and the '427 patent on April 20, 2004, all to Eric Freeman and David Gelernter. The '227, '313, and '427 patents stem from the same application and are of the same family. 3 The patents-in-suit disclose a document stream operating system and method *708 where: 1) the documents are stored in one or more chronologically ordered streams; 2) the location and nature of file storage is transparent to the user; 3) information is organized as needed instead of at the time the document is created; 4) sophisticated logic is provided for summarizing a large group of related documents at the time a user wants a concise overview; and 5) archiving is automatic. '227, '313, & '427 patents at [57].

At the time of the invention, the inventors recognized that operating systems had increasing abilities to store data. The inventors noticed the potential problems associated with efficiently retrieving a growing amount of stored information and sought a way to uniquely display, organize, and access the data. The patented invention uses a “stream” to organize the data. A stream is a diary that organizes documents into a time ordered sequence with a past, present, and future. 4 See '227 patent at 4:6-8, 5:53-6:7. The documents in the stream can be text, pictures, animations, software programs, or any other type of data. See '227 patent at [57], As illustrated below, the patents describe displaying the stream as stacked images so the images appear to be receding and foreshortened:

[[Image here]]

'227, '313, & ’427 patents at Fig. 1. The documents represented in the stream are automatically archived, and a time stamp is used to identify the data. See '227 patent at [57], 16:9-25. As a user scrolls through the documents in the stack, an *709 abbreviated version of the document is presented, giving the user a glimpse of the document. See '313 patent at 15:21-22, 16:35-36. The inventors represented these attributes were advantageous over conventional operating systems in organizing and accessing electronic data.

The Accused Products

Mirror Worlds accused Apple’s operating system, Mac OS X, of infringement. The “Tiger,” “Leopard,” and “Snow Leopard” operating systems are the various accused versions of Mac OS X. Mirror Worlds accused Apple’s computers and servers that use Leopard and Snow Leopard of infringing the '227, '427 and '313 patents and computers and servers that use Tiger of infringing the '227 patent. 5 The accused Apple computers include the eMac, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, iMac, Mac Pro, iBook, PowerBook, Power Mac, and PowerPC. In addition to accusing Mac OS X, Mirror Worlds accused Apple’s mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPod Classic, iPod Nano, and iPad, of infringing the '427 patent.

Mirror Worlds identified three Mac OS X features — Spotlight, Cover Flow, and Time Machine — as practicing the patented invention. Transcript of Trial Proceedings 9/28/10 p.m. at 87:12-22 (hereinafter “TT”). Specifically, Mirror Worlds alleges that Spotlight implements the stream using Spotlight Store, Cover Flow practices displaying items in a stack, and Time Machine automatically archives as claimed by the patents. The Spotlight feature allows a user to search across the various contents (e.g. documents, picture, videos, music, calendar events) on the operating system. Spotlight is implemented through Spotlight Store, which has a Content Index, a Metadata Store, and an interface. 9/28/10 TT at 89:13-93:9; 9/30/10 p.m. (pt. 1) TT at 89:17-91:11. The Content Index maintains an index of the contents of the data. Using a document as an example, the Content Index keeps track of the words in the document. Likewise, the Metadata Store maintains the metadata information. Again using a document as an example, the stored content could include the time and date of creation, author, or where the document is stored. Finally, the interface in Spotlight allows a user to submit search queries. The Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard operating systems include Spotlight Store, and the Leopard and Snow Leopard operating systems also enter metadata in the Content Index. 9/28/10 TT at 104:8-15; 9/30/10 a.m. 39:13-15. Cover Flow is a graphical user interface that allows a user to flip through a stack of documents while representative versions of the document are displayed. 9/28/10 TT at 108:5-11. Time Machine is a backup utility that archives a user’s data. 9/28/10 TT at 108:16-109:5.

The Claims Pursued at Trial

Before proceeding to trial, Mirror Worlds narrowed its asserted claims and accused products. 6 Docket No. 353. Mirror Worlds asserted 12 claims at trial: method claims 13 and 22 of the '227 patent, method claims 1-3, 9, and 11 of the '313 patent, and claims 1, 8, 16, 18, and 25 of the '427 patent. Mirror Worlds alleged that Apple both directly and indirectly infringed its patents and that the infringe *710 ment was willful. Mirror Worlds also contended it was entitled to damages (not less than a reasonable royalty), interest and costs, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees, and injunctive relief.

After the close of Mirror Worlds’ casein-chief, the Court granted Judgment as a Matter of Law that: 1) Apple did not infringe under 35 U.S.C. § 271

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784 F. Supp. 2d 703, 100 U.S.P.Q. 2d (BNA) 1564, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36451, 2011 WL 1304488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mirror-worlds-llc-v-apple-inc-txed-2011.