Morsa v. Facebook, Inc.

77 F. Supp. 3d 1007, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180968, 2014 WL 7641155
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedDecember 23, 2014
DocketCase No. SACV 14-161-JLS (JPRx)
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 77 F. Supp. 3d 1007 (Morsa v. Facebook, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morsa v. Facebook, Inc., 77 F. Supp. 3d 1007, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180968, 2014 WL 7641155 (C.D. Cal. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR JUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS (Doc. 56)

JOSEPHINE L. STATON, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

Before the Court is a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings filed by Defendant Facebook, Inc. (Mot., Doc. 56.) Plaintiff Steve Morsa opposed, and Facebook replied. (Opp., Doc. 59; Reply, Doc. 62.) Having read and considered the papers and heard oral argument, the Court GRANTS the Motion.

II. BACKGROUND

On February 4, 2014, Plaintiff Steve Morsa filed a Complaint in this Court against Defendant Facebook, Inc., alleging Facebook has infringed and continues to infringe two of his patents.1 (Compl., Doc. 1,¶7.)

Both patents are titled “Match Engine Marketing” and share a common abstract, which reads in relevant part:

Enabling advertisers using a computer network such as the Internet and a match engine to submit their offerings to product, service, benefit seeking entities .... An advertiser influences a position of an offering in the advertiser’s account by first selecting offering relevant criteria. The advertiser enters the criteria and the description into a listing; influencing at least in part the position for the listing within a results page through an online bidding process. This results page is generated in response to a seeking entity query of the match [1009]*1009engine. Pay for performance demographic, geographic, psychographic criteria/characteristics targeted directly advertising ... is enabled.

(Id. Exs. A-B.)

The specifications, which are largely identical, state that the patents improve on prevailing internet advertising practices, which largely “followed] traditional advertising paradigms” at the time of invention — for instance, through the use of billboard-like banner advertisements atop webpages — rather than “utilizing] the unique attributes of the Internet.” ('337 Patent, col. 2:19-20.) The patents permit advertisers to target online advertisements only to those consumers fitting desired demographic, geographic and “psycho-graphic” criteria. (Id., col. 6:34-38.) Advertisers reach these consumers by bidding for the display and placement of their advertisements. (Id., col. 6:29-33.)

The five asserted independent claims illustrate the forms this concept takes. Claim 12 of the '337 Patent reads:

A method of generating an advertising presentation using at least in part a computer-compatible network, comprising:
maintaining a database including a plurality of advertisements, wherein each advertisement is associated with a provider and a modifiable bid amount that is independent of other component(s) of the advertisement, each advertisement being searchable; identifying the advertisement(s) having demographic and/or psychographic and/or firmographic criteria which generate at least a partial match with an entity;
arranging the identified advertisements) into said advertising presentation at least in part in accordance with the values of the respective bid amounts for the identified advertisements).

(Id., col. 40:23-37.) Claims 113 and 126 of the '337 Patent are substantially similar. Claim 113 reads:

A method of presenting an advertisement, the method comprising: associating one or more multigraphic and/or firmographic attributes with an advertisement;
receiving input from a user, wherein the received input comprises one or more multigraphic and/or firmographic attributes;
identifying at least a partial match between the multigraphic and/or fir-mographic attribute or attributes associated with the advertisement and the received input;
and presenting the advertisement to the user;
wherein the determination of the presentation order and/or size of and/or dimensions of and/or location of the advertisement is based at least in part on a bid on at least one of the said multigraphic and/or firmographic attributes.

(Id., col. 50:40-51; see also id. col. 51:29-39.) Claim 1 of the '020 Patent reads:

A method comprising:
receiving through a network from a first device connected to the network information associating one or more demographic and/or psychographic and/or firmographic criteria with -an ad;
receiving through the network from the first device or a second device connected to the network a bid associated with the criteria; determining, by at least one processor, ad placement based at least in part on (i) the bid and (ii) ad performance and/or ad popularity.

('020 Patent, col. 39:31-41.) Finally, Claim 97 of the '020 Patent reads:

[1010]*1010A method comprising:

auctioning or bidding on or for, through a network via at least one device connected to the network, a(n):
ad, entity, user, seeker, or entity criteria; determining, by at least one processor, ad placement;
wherein one or more demographic and/or psychographic and/or fírmo-graphic criteria is associated with, a component of, a factor applicable to, or which corresponds to said ad, entity, user, seeker, or entity criteria.

(Id., col. 45:6-14.) The fifteen asserted dependent claims recite various limitations on the above independent claims. (See, e.g., Deck of Elizabeth L. Stameshkin, Doc. 58, Appx. A.)

On November 13, 2014, Facebook filed the instant Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, arguing that all asserted claims are drawn to patent-ineligible subject matter under Section 101 of the Patent Act, 35 U.S.C. § 101. (Mem., Doc. 57, at 1-2.) Morsa disputes this and additionally argues that (1) subject-matter invalidity under Section 101 is not a defense to an infringement claim and (2) to the extent that it is, it is premature at the Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings stage. (Opp. at 7-19; 19-20; 5-7.)

III. LEGAL STANDARD

A. Motion for Judgment on the. Pleadings

Where a motion for judgment on the pleadings under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure (“Rule”) 12(c) is used to dismiss an action for failure to state a claim, it is “functionally equivalent” to a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), and the same legal standard applies to both motioris. Harris v. County of Orange, 682 F.3d 1126, 1131 (9th Cir.2012). Judgment on the pleadings is appropriate only “when the moving party clearly establishes on the face of the pleadings that no material issue of fact remains to be resolved and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Enron Oil Trading & Transp. Co. v. Walbrook Ins. Co., 132 F.3d 526, 529 (9th Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

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Bluebook (online)
77 F. Supp. 3d 1007, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180968, 2014 WL 7641155, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morsa-v-facebook-inc-cacd-2014.