Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Dev. Co. v. Byton N. Am. Corp.

340 F. Supp. 3d 922
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedOctober 31, 2018
DocketCase No. 18-cv-03115-JST
StatusPublished

This text of 340 F. Supp. 3d 922 (Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Dev. Co. v. Byton N. Am. Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Dev. Co. v. Byton N. Am. Corp., 340 F. Supp. 3d 922 (N.D. Cal. 2018).

Opinion

JON S. TIGAR, United States District Judge

Two motions are now before the Court: (1) Plaintiff Thunder Power New Energy Vehicle Development Company Limited ("Thunder Power")'s motion for a preliminary injunction prohibiting Defendants Byton North America Corporation ("Byton N.A." or "Byton") and Nanjing Byton New Energy Vehicle Technology Development Co., Ltd. ("Nanjing Byton") from making, using, offering to sell, or selling within the United States, or importing into the United States, vehicles employing the accused functionality, ECF No. 47 at 2; and (2) Defendant Byton's motion to dismiss Thunder Power's patent infringement claims for U.S. Patent Nos. 9,547,373 ("the '373 patent") ; 9,563,329 ("the '329 patent") ; and 9,561,724 ("the '724 patent"), as directed toward patent-ineligible subject matter. ECF No. 37. The Court will grant the motion to dismiss and deny the preliminary injunction motion as moot.

I. BACKGROUND

Both Thunder Power and Byton are foreign companies focused on developing and manufacturing electric vehicles; Thunder Power is based in Hong Kong, and Byton N.A. designs and develops electric vehicles under the direction of Defendant Nanjing Byton New Energy Vehicle Technology Development Co., Ltd., which is based in mainland China. ECF No. 35 ("first amended complaint" or "FAC") ¶¶ 4, 7, 8; ECF No. 20-1 ¶ 3. Thunder Power alleges that several concept cars imported and advertised by Byton N.A. include operating and display systems that infringe its patents: specifically, Byton's "Gesture *925Control" system ( '373 patent) and "Shared Experience Display" system ( '329 patent and '724 patent ). Id. ¶¶ 7-9, 39, 44, 49.

Generally, the '373 patent claims a vehicle operating system that captures and processes gesture signals from both a driver and a passenger, prioritizing signals from the driver where the two conflict. FAC ¶ 20. The '724 patent claims an in-vehicle display system that shows two information panels on an LCD screen, switches the position of the panels in response to a user signal, then switches them back after a set period of time ("switch-back feature"). Id. ¶ 31. The '329 patent claims a similar display system, without specifying an LCD screen, which duplicates the first information panel at a third position on the dashboard in response to a user instruction ("screen-duplication feature"). Id. ¶ 32.

Byton N.A. now moves to dismiss all three of the patents at issue as abstract and therefore ineligible. ECF No. 37. Thunder Power opposes the motion. ECF No. 44.

II. LEGAL STANDARD

"To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to 'state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' " Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009). "Dismissal under Rule 12(b)(6) is appropriate ... where the complaint lacks a cognizable legal theory or sufficient facts to support a cognizable legal theory." Mendiondo v. Centinela Hosp. Med. Ctr. , 521 F.3d 1097, 1104 (9th Cir. 2008). "[A]ll allegations of material fact are taken as true and construed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party." Cahill v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. , 80 F.3d 336, 337-38 (9th Cir. 1996). "While a complaint ... does not need detailed factual allegations, [it] requires more than labels and conclusions, and a formulaic recitation of the elements of a cause of action will not do." Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly , 550 U.S. 544, 555, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007). In other words, a pleading must allege "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Id. at 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955.

Under section 101 of the Patent Act, "abstract ideas are not patentable." Alice Corp. Pty. v. CLS Bank Int'l , 573 U.S. 208, 134 S.Ct. 2347, 2354, 189 L.Ed.2d 296 (2014). A However, "an invention is not rendered ineligible for patent simply because it involves an abstract concept." Id. Courts must distinguish between patents that claim abstract ideas, on the one hand, and patents "that claim patent-eligible applications of those concepts," on the other hand. Id. at 2355. To draw this distinction, courts engage in a two-step analysis.

At step one, courts determine whether the claims at issue are "directed to an abstract idea." Id. at 2356-57. For instance, courts ask whether claims are "directed to a specific improvement" or "to a specific implementation of a solution to a problem." Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp. , 822 F.3d 1327, 1338, 1339 (Fed. Cir. 2016).

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340 F. Supp. 3d 922, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thunder-power-new-energy-vehicle-dev-co-v-byton-n-am-corp-cand-2018.