SRI International, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc.

254 F. Supp. 3d 680, 2017 WL 2385604, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83832
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedJune 1, 2017
DocketCiv. No. 13-1534-SLR
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 254 F. Supp. 3d 680 (SRI International, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
SRI International, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 254 F. Supp. 3d 680, 2017 WL 2385604, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83832 (D. Del. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Sue L. Robinson, Senior District Judge

1. INTRODUCTION

On September 4, 2013, plaintiff SRI International, Inc. (“SRI”) filed suit against defendant Cisco Systems Inc. (“Cisco”), alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,711,615 (“the ’615 patent”) and 6,484,203 (“the ’203 patent”) (collectively, “the patents”). (D.I. 1) On December 18, 2013, Cisco answered the complaint and counterclaimed for non-infringement and invalidity. (D.I. 9) SRI answered the counterclaims on January 13, 2014. (D.I. 11) The court issued a claim construction order on May 14, 2015. (D.I. 138) In a memorandum opinion and order dated April 11, 2016, the court resolved several summary judgment motions. (D.I. 301; D.I. 302)

The court held an eight-day jury trial from May 2-11, 2016 on infringement, validity, willfulness, and damages of claims 1, 2, 13, and 14 of the ’615 patent and claims 1, 2, 12, and 13 of the ’203 patent (“the asserted claims”). On May 12, 2016, the jury returned a verdict that Cisco intrusion protection system (“IPS”) products, Cisco remote management services, Cisco IPS services, Sourcefire IPS products, and Sourcefire professional services directly and indirectly infringe the asserted claims of the ’615 and ’203 patents. (D.I. 337 at 1-4) The jury determined that the asserted claims are not invalid. (D.I. 337 at 6-7) As a consequence of this infringement, the jury awarded SRI a 3.5% reasonable royalty amounting to $8,680,000 for sales of Cisco products and services and $14,980,000 for sales of Cisco/Sourcefire products and services, for a total of $23,660,000. (D.I. 337 at 8) The jury also found that SRI had established, by clear and convincing evidence, that Cisco’s infringement was willful. (D.I. 337 at 5)

Presently before the court are the following motions: (1) Cisco’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, new trial, and remittitur (D.I. 351); (2) SRI’s motion for attorney fees (D.I. 349); and (3) Cisco’s motion to supplement the record (D.I. 385). The court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).

II. BACKGROUND

A. The Parties

SRI is an independent, not-for-profit research institute incorporated under the laws of the State of California, with its principal place of business in Menlo Park, California. (D.I. 1 at ¶ 1) SRI conducts client-supported research and development for government agencies, commercial businesses, foundations, and other organizations. (Id. at ¶ 6) Among its many areas of research, SRI has engaged in research related to computer security and, more specifically, to large computer network intrusion detection systems and methods. (Id.) Cisco is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of California, with its principal place of business in San Jose, California. (Id. at ¶ 2) Cisco provides various intrusion prevention and intrusion detection products and services. (Id. at ¶ 14)

B. The Technology

The patents relate to the monitoring and surveillance of computer networks for in-[687]*687trusión detection. In particular, the patents teach a computer-automated method of hierarchical event monitoring and analysis within an enterprise network that allows for real-time detection of intruders. Upon detecting any suspicious activity, the network monitors generate reports of such activity. The claims of the patents focus on methods and systems for deploying a hierarchy of network monitors that can generate and receive reports of suspicious network activity.

The ’615 patent (titled “Network Surveillance”) is a continuation of the ’203 patent (titled “Hierarchical Event Monitoring and Analysis”), and the patents share a common specification and priority date of November 9, 1998. (D.I 179 at 1) The asserted claims include independent claims 1 and 13 of the ’615 patent, which claims read as follows:

1. A computer-automated method of hierarchical event monitoring and analysis within an enterprise network comprising:
deploying a plurality of network monitors in the enterprise network;
detecting, by the network monitors, suspicious network activity based on analysis of network traffic data selected from one or more of the following categories: {network packet data transfer commands, network packet data transfer errors, network packet data volume, network connection requests, network connection denials, error codes included in a network packet, network connection acknowl-edgements, and network packets indicative of well-known network-service protocols};
generating, by the monitors, reports of said suspicious activity; '
and automatically receiving and integrating the reports of suspicious activity, by one or more hierarchical monitors.

(’615 patent, 15:1-21)

13. An enterprise network monitoring system comprising:
a plurality of network monitors deployed within an enterprise network, said plurality of network monitors detecting suspicious network activity based on analysis of network traffic data selected from one or more of the following categories: {network packet data transfer commands, network packet data transfer errors, network packet data volume, network connection requests, network connection denials, error codes included in a network packet, network connection acknowledgements, and network packets indicative of well-known network-service protocols};
said network monitors generating reports of said suspicious activity; and one.or more hierarchical monitors in the enterprise network, the hierarchical monitors adapted to automatically receive and integrate the reports of suspicious activity.

(’615 patent, 15:56-16:6)

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A. Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law

The Federal Circuit “review[s] a district' court’s denial of judgment as a matter of law under the law of the regional circuit. WBIP, LLC v. Kohler Co., 829 F.3d 1317, 1325 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (citation omitted). In the Third Circuit, a “court may grant a judgment as a' matter of law contrary to the verdict only if ‘the record is critically deficient of the minimum quantum of evidence’ to sustain the verdict.” Acumed LLC v. Advanced Surgical Servs., Inc., 561 F.3d 199, 211 (3d Cir. 2009) (cit[688]*688ing Gomez v. Allegheny Health Servs., Inc., 71 F.3d 1079, 1083 (3d Cir. 1995)); see also McKenna v. City of Philadelphia, 649 F.3d 171, 176 (3d Cir. 2011). The court should grant judgment as a matter of law “sparingly” and “only if, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant and giving it the advantage of every fair and reasonable inference, there is insufficient evidence from which a jury reasonably could find liability.” Marra v. Philadelphia Hous. Auth., 497 F.3d 286, 300 (3d Cir. 2007) (citing Moyer v. United Dominion Indus., Inc., 473 F.3d 532, 545 n.8 (3d Cir. 2007)).

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254 F. Supp. 3d 680, 2017 WL 2385604, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83832, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sri-international-inc-v-cisco-systems-inc-ded-2017.