SRI International Inc. v. Internet Security Systems, Inc.

647 F. Supp. 2d 323, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73981, 2009 WL 2568294
CourtDistrict Court, D. Delaware
DecidedAugust 20, 2009
DocketCiv. 04-1199-SLR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 647 F. Supp. 2d 323 (SRI International Inc. v. Internet Security 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. Internet Security Systems, Inc., 647 F. Supp. 2d 323, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73981, 2009 WL 2568294 (D. Del. 2009).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SUE L. ROBINSON, District Judge.

I. INTRODUCTION

On August 26, 2004, plaintiff SRI International, Inc. (“SRI”) brought suit against defendants Symantec Corporation (“Symantec”) and Internet Security Systems, Inc. (“ISS”) (collectively, “defendants”) charging infringement of four patents: United States Patent Nos. 6,484,203 (“the '203 patent”), 6,708,212 (“the '212 patent”), 6,321,338 (“the '338 patent”), and 6,711,615 (“the '615 patent”). On April 13, 2005, 2005 WL 851126 (D.Del.2005), the court denied defendants’ motions to dismiss, sever and transfer. (D.I. 31) Following discovery, Symantec moved for summary judgment of non-infringement (D.I. 286), ISS moved for summary judgment of non-infringement and invalidity (D.I. 282, 291, 364), and defendants jointly moved for summary judgment that each of the patents in suit is invalid pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 102 and § 103 (D.I. 297). Plaintiff filed motions for summary judgment of validity. (D.I. 270, 276, 279) The court issued its claim construction opinion on October 17, 2006, 2006 WL 2949305 (D.Del.2006). (D.I. 468) On the same date, the court held each of the asserted patents invalid as anticipated by SRI’s prior art publication “Live Traffic Analysis of TCP/IP Gateways” (“Live Traffic”) pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 102. The court also found the '212 patent invalid as anticipated by a paper entitled “EMERALD: Event Monitoring Enabling Responses To Anomalous Live Disturbances” (“EMERALD 1997”) pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 102. (D.I. 471 1 ) On appeal, the Federal Circuit affirmed the court’s decision with respect to the '212 patent and vacated and remanded the court’s determination that the remaining patents were rendered invalid by Live Traffic. SRI Int’l, Inc. v. Internet Sec. Sys., Inc., 511 F.3d 1186 (Fed.Cir.2008). The court denied defendants’ renewed motion for summary judgment of invalidity (D.I. 297) on August 21, 2008, 572 F.Supp.2d 511 (D.Del.2008). (D.I. 525)

A jury trial commenced September 2, 2008. Plaintiff asserted that defendants infringe claims 1 and 12 of the '203 patent and claims 1, 13, 14, and 16 of the '615 patent. Plaintiff asserted that ISS also infringes claims 1, 11, 12, 13 and 24 of the '338 patent. Defendants challenged the validity of the asserted patents. On September 18, 2008, the jury found that Symantec and ISS infringed each asserted claim of the '615 and '203 patents, that ISS did not infringe the '338 patent, and that each of the '203, '605 and '338 patents are valid. (D.I. 558) The parties filed their post-trial motions on October 14, 2008. Currently pending before the court are: (1) plaintiffs motion for post-trial relief (D.I. 564); (2) ISS’s motion for renewed judgment as a matter of law (“JMOL”) or, in the alternative, for a new trial (D.I. 565); (3) Symantec’s motion for a new trial and/or to alter or amend the judgment (D.I. 566); and (4) Symantec’s motion for JMOL (D.I. 567).

II. BACKGROUND

A. Patents in Suit

The patents in suit relate to the monitoring and surveillance of computer *329 networks for intrusion 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 '203 and '615 patents focus on methods and systems for deploying a hierarchy of network monitors that can generate and receive reports of suspicious network activity.

To detect attacks which do not possess deterministic signatures or to detect previously unknown (new) attacks, the patents in suit disclose the use of statistical detection methods on network data. The claims of the '338 patent are directed to a particular statistical algorithm for detecting suspicious network activity.

The patents in suit share a common specification and priority date of November 9,1998. The critical date is November 9, 1997 for purposes of 35 U.S.C. § 102(b).

1. The '615 and '203 patents

Plaintiff asserted that defendants infringe claims 1, 13, 14 and 16 of the '615 patent and claims 1 and 12 of the '203 patent. Independent claims 1 and 13 of the '615 patent 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 acknowledgements, 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.
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.

As used in all of the claims in suit, a “network” is a “collection of software and/or hardware interconnected by communication links for sharing information.” (D.I. 468 at 2) A “packet” is a “group of data bytes which represents a specific information unit with a known beginning and end.” (Id.) “Network monitors” means “[software and/or hardware that can collect, analyze and/or respond to data.” (Id.)

Asserted claims 14 and 16 are dependant on claim 13, adding the additional *330

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Bluebook (online)
647 F. Supp. 2d 323, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73981, 2009 WL 2568294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sri-international-inc-v-internet-security-systems-inc-ded-2009.