MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc.

209 F. Supp. 3d 756, 2016 WL 3958723
District Court, D. Delaware·Decided July 21, 2016·No. Civ. No. 10-258-SLR·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ROBINSON, District Judge

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff MobileMedia Ideas, LLC (“Mo-bileMedia”) filed a patent infringement complaint against Apple Inc. (“Apple”) on March 31, 2010, alleging in its amended complaint infringement of sixteen patents, including U.S. Patent No. RE 39,231 (“the ’231 patent”) and 6,725, 155 (“the ’155 patent”).1 (D.I. 1; D.I. 8) Apple answered and counterclaimed on August 9, 2010. (D.I. 10) The court resolved the parties’ claim construction issues and summary judgment motions for infringement and invalidity. (D.I. 461; D.I. 462); MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc., 907 F.Supp.2d 570, 596-99 (D.Del.2012). The case proceeded to a six day jury trial beginning on December 3, 2012 on three of the asserted patents. The court then resolved the parties’ post-trial motions. (D.I. 539; D.I. 540; D.I. 541; D.I. 542); MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc., 966 F.Supp.2d 433 (D.Del.2012); MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc., 966 F.Supp.2d 439 (D.Del. 2012). The Federal Circuit issued its mandate on June 5, 2015, affirming in part, reversing in part, vacating and remanding. MobileMedia Ideas LLC v. Apple Inc., 780 F.3d 1159 (Fed.Cir.2015). Presently before the court is Apple’s motion for summary judgment regarding damages (D.I. 633) and motions to exclude certain expert opinions (D.I. 636, 639). The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).

II. SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A. Standard

“The court shall grant summary judgment if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The moving party bears the burden of demonstrating the absence of a genuine issue of material fact. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 n. 10, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). A party asserting that a fact cannot be— or, alternatively, is—genuinely disputed must be supported either by citing to “particular parts of materials in the record, including depositions, documents, electronically stored information, affidavits or declarations, stipulations (including those made for the purposes of the motions only), admissions, interrogatory answers, or other materials,” or by “showing that the materials cited do not establish the absence or presence of a genuine dispute, or that an adverse party cannot produce admissible evidence to support the fact.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(A) & (B). If the moving party has carried its burden, the nonmovant must then “come forward with specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 587, 106 S.Ct. 1348 (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court will “draw all [759] reasonable inferences in favor of the non-moving party, and it máy not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence.” Reeves v. Sanderson Plumbing Prods., Inc., 530 U.S. 183, 150, 120 S.Ct. 2097, 147 L.Ed.2d 105 (2000).

To defeat a motion for summary judgment, the non-moving party must “do more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts.” Matsushita, 475 U.S. at 586-87, 106 S.Ct. 1348; see also Podobnik v. U.S. Postal Service, 409 F.3d 584, 594 (3d Cir.2005) (stating party opposing summary judgment “must present more than just bare assertions, conclusory allegations or suspicions to show the existence of a genuine issue”) (internal quotation marks omitted). Although the “mere existence, of some alleged factual dispute between the parties will not defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment,” a factual dispute is genuine where “the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 247-48, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). “If the evidence is merely colorable, or is not significantly probative, summary judgment may be granted.” Id. at 249-50, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (internal citations omitted); see also Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (stating entry of summary judgment is mandated “against a party who fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial”).

B. Analysis2

1. Prosecution history

On March 6, 1998, twice amended claims 1 and 12 were again amended in response to an office action3 rejecting the claims over prior art, adding certain language relevant to the issue at bar:

1. (Twice Amended) A communication terminal for informing a user of a received call from a remote caller by an alert sound comprising:
an alert sound generator for generating a sound; and
control means for controlling said alert sound generator and determining whether a predetermined operation is operated when said alert sound is being rung and when said predetermined operation is operated an operating state of said alert sound generator is altered based on an outcome of the determination and a communication state between the terminal and the remote caller remains unchanged.
12. (Twice Amended) The communication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising:
RF signal processing means for transmitting and/or receiving radio waves; and
an antenna for transmitting and/or receiving said radio waves, wherein said communication status between said apparatus and said remote caller is established by said transmitted and/or received radio waves.

(D.I. 658, ex. G at JA268-72) (emphasis added) On February 16, 1999, claim 1 was further amended4 in relevant’ part to [760] change the last limitation to:

1. (Four-Times Amended) A communication terminal for informing a user of a received call from a remote caller by an alert sound, comprising:
an alert sound generator for generating the alert sound when the call is received from the remote caller;

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MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc., 209 F. Supp. 3d 756, 2016 WL 3958723 (D. Del. 2016).

209 F. Supp. 3d 756 (MobileMedia Ideas, LLC v. Apple Inc.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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