Power Density Solutions, LLC v. Google LLC

District Court, S.D. California·Decided August 18, 2025·No. 3:24-cv-02122·Unknown

Opinion

POWER DENSITY SOLUTIONS, LLC, Case No.: 24-cv-2122-RSH-JLB

Plaintiff, CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ORDER v. Defendant. Plaintiff Power Density Solutions, LLC (“Power Density”) alleges defendant Google LLC (“Google”) infringes U.S. Patent No. 6,552,901 (“the ’901 Patent”). The Parties have submitted two disputed terms for construction. The Court held a claim construction hearing on August 14, 2025. Having considered the Parties’ briefing and oral arguments, the Court construes the disputed claims as follows. A. Generally Plaintiff is a California limited liability company. ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”) ¶ 2. Plaintiff owns, by assignment, the ’901 Patent. Id. On November 12, 2024, Plaintiff brought the instant action against defendant Google, alleging the cooling system used in version 3 of Google’s Tensor Processing Units infringes independent Claims 1 and 16, and dependent Claims 17-19, of the ’901 Patent. Id. ¶¶ 8, 10; ECF Nos. 1-3; 34 at 11. On May 19, 2025, in accordance with the Patent Local Rules, the Parties filed their Joint Claim Construction Hearing Statement, Chart, and Worksheet. ECF No. 27. On June 30, 2025, the Parties filed their Opening Claim Construction Briefs. ECF Nos. 34, 35. On July 18, 2025, the Parties field their Responsive Claim Construction Briefs. ECF Nos. 36, 37. B. The Asserted Patent The ’901 Patent is entitled: “Apparatus and System for Cooling Electronic Circuitry, Heat Sinks, and Related Components.” The patent “relates generally to the cooling of electronic circuitry, integrated circuit boards, heat sinks, and power electronic components to increase their power density.” ’901 Patent, col. 1:15–17. As background, the ’901 Patent explains that the performance of most electronic devices is constrained by thermal limitations. Id. at col. 1:15–25. These limitations “have a direct effect on efficiency, power density, packaging and the architectural configuration for these components in their operating environment.” Id. at col. 1:23–25. Prior art methods of cooling components on an integrated circuit board have included: (1) “traditional spray- cooling designs,” whereby a coolant is directed towards these components; (2) placing a “cooling body” in contact with the electronic device; and (3) filling a “liquid cooled circuit package” during operation. Id. at cols. 2:4–31; 3:4–18. According to the ’901 Patent, these prior art systems exhibited certain inefficiencies. For example, in a traditional spray- cooling system, inefficiencies result from evaporated vapors having to escape in the direction of the coolant vapors being sprayed. Id. at col. 3:8–11. The invention of the ’901 Patent purports to teach a more effective system and method of removing latent heat from electronic components. Id. at col. 1:45–49. To do so, the ’901 Patent describes a system and method for supplying a cooling fluid capable of phase change to “passageways within an integrated circuit board and/or its components and/or heat sinks.” Id. at col. 2:61–63; see also Abstract. The cooling fluid “passes through the passageways and exits through ports or nozzles on the surface of the integrated circuit board, components or heat sink.” Id. at col. 2:63–65. The components of the circuit board may therefore be cooled “by both conductive cooling as the fluid passes through the core of the component, circuit board, or heat sink and by evaporative cooling as the liquid changes phase at or near the surface of the component circuit board, or heat sink.” Id. at cols. 2:66–3:3; see also id. at Abstract. A. Claim Construction Generally “It is a ‘bedrock principle’ of patent law that ‘the claims of a patent define the invention to which the patentee is entitled the right to exclude.’” Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303, 1312 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (quoting Innova/Pure Water, Inc. v. Safari Water Filtration Sys., 381 F.3d 1111, 1115 (Fed. Cir. 2004)). A determination of infringement therefore “involves a two-step analysis. ‘First, the claim must be properly construed to determine its scope and meaning. Second, the claim as properly construed must be compared to the accused device or process.’” Omega Eng’g, Inc. v. Raytek Corp., 334 F.3d 1314, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2003) (quoting Carroll Touch, Inc. v. Electro Mech. Sys., Inc., 15 F.3d 1573, 1576 (Fed. Cir. 1993)). The first step, commonly known as claim construction, is presently before the Court. The Court construes patent claims ultimately as a matter of law, although “subsidiary factfinding is sometimes necessary.” Teva Pharm. USA, Inc. v. Sandoz, Inc., 574 U.S. 318, 326 (2015); Markman v. Westview Instruments, Inc., 517 U.S. 370, 388 (1996) (“[J]udges, not juries, are the better suited to find the acquired meaning of patent terms.”). “Ultimately, the interpretation to be given a term can only be determined and confirmed with a full understanding of what the inventors actually invented and intended to envelop with the claim.” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1316 (quoting Renishaw PLC v. Marposs Societa' Per Azioni, 158 F.3d 1243, 1250 (Fed. Cir. 1998)). Accordingly, a claim should be construed in a manner that “stays true to the claim language and most naturally aligns with the patent’s description of the invention[.]” Id. “In determining the proper construction of a claim, the court has numerous sources that it may properly utilize for guidance.” Vitronics Corp. v. Conceptronic, 90 F.3d 1576, 1582 (Fed. Cir. 1996). These sources “include both intrinsic evidence (e.g., the patent specification and file history) and extrinsic evidence (e.g., expert testimony).” Id. It is well- settled that in construing an asserted claim, a court “look[s] first to the intrinsic evidence of record, i.e., the patent itself, including the claims, the specification and, if in evidence, the prosecution history.” Id. (citation omitted); see also Vederi, LLC v. Google, Inc., 744 F.3d 1376, 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2014) (“In construing claims, this court relies primarily on the claim language, the specification, and the prosecution history.”). The claim construction inquiry “begins and ends in all cases with the actual words of the claim.” Scanner Techs. Corp. v. ICOS Vision Sys. Corp. N.V., 365 F.3d 1299, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (internal quotations omitted); see also Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582 (“[W]e look to the words of the claims themselves, both asserted and nonasserted, to define the scope of the patented invention.”). The words of a claim should generally be “given their ordinary and customary meaning.” Vitronics, 90 F.3d at 1582. “[T]he ordinary and customary meaning of a claim term is the meaning that the term would have to a person of ordinary skill in the art [“POSITA”] in question at the time of the invention, i.e., as of the effective filing date of the patent application.” Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1313. “In some cases, the ordinary meaning of claim language as understood by a person of skill in the art may be readily apparent even to lay judges, and claim construction in such cases involves little more than the application of the widely accepted meaning of commonly understood words.” Id. at 1314. “However, in many cases, the meaning of a claim term as understood by persons of skill in the a

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