National Instruments Corp. v. Ensoft Corp.

815 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114559, 2011 WL 4543053
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedSeptember 30, 2011
Docket4:06-cv-00551
StatusPublished

This text of 815 F. Supp. 2d 1054 (National Instruments Corp. v. Ensoft Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
National Instruments Corp. v. Ensoft Corp., 815 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114559, 2011 WL 4543053 (S.D. Iowa 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

ROBERT W. PRATT, Chief Judge.

Currently before the Court is “Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment,” filed by EnSoft Corporation (“EnSoft”) on February 10, 2011. Clerk’s No. 93. Plaintiff National Instruments Corporation (“National Instruments”) filed a response in opposition to the motion on April 28, 2011. 1 Clerk’s No. 105. EnSoft filed a reply on June 22, 2011. Clerk’s No. 117. National Instruments filed a sur-reply on July 6, 2011. Clerk’s No. 124. Also before the Court are claim construction briefs filed by the parties. Clerk’s Nos. Ill, 118, 127. On July 8, 2011, the Court held a hearing on EnSoft’s motion and on the pending claim construction issues. Clerk’s No. 125; see also Clerk’s No. 97 ¶ 3; Clerk’s No. 99. The matters are fully submitted.

I. FACTUAL & PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. The Patents-Irir-Suit

National Instruments alleges infringement of two of its patents, namely, U.S. *1057 Patent No. 5,974,254 (hereinafter “the '254 Patent”) and U.S. Patent No. 6,138,270 (hereinafter “the '270 Patent”) (collectively “the Patents”). Compl. ¶¶ 6-9; see also Statement of Undisputed Material Facts in Supp. of Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. (hereinafter “Def s Facts”) ¶ 1 (Clerk’s No. 93-1); National Instruments’ Am. Resp. to Def.’s Statement of Material Facts re Def.’s Mot. for Summ. J. (hereinafter “PL’s Fact Resp.”) ¶ 1 (Clerk’s No. 129). The Patents relate to, generally, detecting differences between — i.e., “differencing” — certain computer programs. See '254 Patent; see also Def.’s Facts ¶ 2; PL’s Fact Resp. ¶ 2. For example, one representative claim discloses:

A computer-implemented method for detecting differences between first and second graphical programs, wherein the method executes on a computer including a display screen and an input device, wherein the first and second graphical programs comprise graphical code, wherein each of the first and second graphical programs was created in response to user input assembling a plurality of icons and connecting the plurality of icons on a display to create the graphical code, wherein the first graphical program comprises a first plurality of objects and wherein the second graphical program comprises a second plurality of objects, the method comprising:
creating data structures to represent said first and second graphical programs;
matching said first plurality of objects of said first graphical program with said second plurality of objects of said second graphical program;
determining differences between said first graphical program and said second graphical program in response to said matching; and
displaying an indication of said differences on the display screen.

Def.’s App. in Supp. of its Mot. for Summ. J. (hereinafter (“Def.’s App.”)) at 2540003 (showing claim 1 of the '254 Patent, as amended during reexamination) (Clerk’s No. 93-2).

B. The Reexamination

National Instruments filed this case on November 13, 2006. See Compl. at 1. On August 14, 2007, EnSoft filed a motion to stay the case, citing its “intension] to immediately file a request for reexamination of both” of the Patents. Clerk’s No. 45 ¶ 2. On September 20, 2007, Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields granted EnSoft’s motion to stay this case pending reexamination of the Patents. Clerk’s No. 70. The United States Patent & Trademark Office (“PTO”) entered an order granting EnSoft’s request for ex parte reexamination of the '254 Patent on March 28, 2008 and an order granting EnSoft’s request for ex parte reexamination of the '270 Patent on April 29, 2008. 2 Def.’s Facts ¶ 5.

The examiner issued a non-final office action regarding the '254 Patent on January 26, 2009 and a non-final office action regarding the '270 Patent on January 30, 2009. See id. ¶¶ 6-7. In these office actions, the examiner rejected certain claims in both of the Patents as obvious. Def.’s *1058 App. at 2540046, 2700046. In support of these rejections, the examiner relied mainly upon an article by Susan Horwitz entitled “Identifying the Semantic and Textual Differences Between Two Versions of a Program” (hereinafter “Horwitz”). 3 See id. ¶ 7 (citing Def.’s App. at 2540046-47, 2700046-74); see also Def.’s App. at 2700103-14 (Horwitz). Horwitz does not specifically mention graphical programs. 4 National Instruments’ Statement of Additional Facts Precluding Summ. J. (hereinafter “Pl.’s Facts”) ¶ 18 (Clerk’s No. 105-2); see EnSoft’s Resp. to National Instrumentes’] Statement of Additional Material Facts Precluding Summ. J. (hereinafter “Defi’s Fact Resp.”) ¶ 18 (Clerk’s No. 117). Nonetheless, the examiner noted that “Horwitz identifies semantic changes between two versions of a computer program,” see Def.’s App. at 2700047, and asserted that Horwitz disclosed a number of limitations in the Patents, such as “the matching/mapping of two computer programs.” Def.’s App. at 2540048.

National Instruments responded to the office actions regarding the '254 Patent and the '270 Patent on March 25, 2009 and March 30, 2009, respectively. See Def.’s Facts ¶ 13. In these responses, National Instruments argued that the prior art, and specifically Horwitz, did not “teach[] or suggest a number of limitations of [the] claims.” E.g., Def.’s App. at 2540038. For example, National Instruments argued that:

The cited references do not teach or suggest the concept of “graphical programs” or graphical programs comprising “graphical code”. As noted above, both the Laski and Horwitz references relate to determining differences between textual code. Further, both La-ski and Horwitz create “flow graphs” based on small portions of textual code. However, these flow graphs are not “programs ”, i.e., these flow graphs are not themselves executable programs. Rather, these flow graphs are simply representations of the text based code. The term “graphical code” refers to computer source code that is graphical in nature. Graphical code is executable, i.e., is capable of being compiled by a computer (or otherwise converted to machine language instructions) for execution. The cited references do not teach or suggest any type of graphical source code. The simple flow graphs created in Laski and Horwitz are NOT source code — these flow graphs are not executable, e.g., they cannot be compiled for execution by a computer.
The cited references further do not teach or suggest determining differences between said first graphical pro *1059

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815 F. Supp. 2d 1054, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114559, 2011 WL 4543053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/national-instruments-corp-v-ensoft-corp-iasd-2011.