throbber
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA
`
`SIGHTSOUND.COM INCORPORATED,
`A Pennsylvania corporation
`
`Plaintiffs
`
`vs.
`
`Civil Action No. 98-118
`
`inc., a Delaware corporation
`N2K,
`CDNOW,
`INC., A Pennsylvania
`Corporation, and
`CDNOW ONLINE,
`INC.,
`a Pennsylvania corporation
`
`Defendants
`
`PROCEEDINGS
`
`(Day 3)
`
`Transcript of Markman Hearing continuing on Friday,
`April 20, 2001, United States District Court,·Pittsburgh,
`Pennsylvania, before Honorable Kenneth J. Benson, U.S.
`Magistrate Judge.
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`For the Plaintiffs:
`
`.
`
`WILLIAM WELLS, Esq.
`BRIAN S. MUDGE, Esq.
`RICHARD F. RINALDO, Esq.
`
`For the Defendants:
`
`ERIC KRAEUTLER, Esq.
`MICHAEL BARCLAY, Esq.
`
`Reported by:
`Virginia S. Pease
`Official Court Reporter
`1031 USPO & Courthouse
`Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219
`(412) 471-0377
`
`.
`
`Proceedings recorded by mechanical stenography. Transcript
`produced by computer-aided transcription.
`
`SST-029141
`
`Apple Exhibit 1141 Page 00001
`
`

`
`2
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`(Whereupon, court reconvened at 9:30 o'clock a.m.)
`
`MATTHEW WITHERAL, Law Clerk:
`
`Keep your seats,
`
`please.
`
`THE COURT: Good morning.
`
`Always get a little worried as we approach a kind
`
`of artificially set deadline, as we are here,
`
`that
`
`the
`
`plaintiff, who exercising its legitimate rights in putting on
`
`its case as it sees fit, starts to squeeze the time allowed
`
`for the defendant, who has a right to put
`
`its case on,
`
`too.
`
`How we doing on time, Mr. Mudge, you think?
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`I'm going to certainly finish the
`
`Group I this morning. My expectation, my best guesstimate is
`
`that
`
`I would finish between 11:00 and 11:30.
`
`THE COURT: Okay.
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`And I understand at that point
`
`in time
`
`defendants would make their presentation along those, on the
`
`grouping of terms.
`
`THE COURT: Okay.
`
`And then, you back on for more
`
`terms?
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`Yeah.
`
`Then later this -- I'm presuming
`
`they would not finish this morning, and then, we would come
`
`back this afternoon for defendant
`
`to finish, and then, we
`
`would begin the second group of terms.
`
`THE COURT: Okay.
`
`MR. MUDGE: We recognize, Your Honor,
`
`that given
`
`SST-029142
`
`Page 00002
`
`

`
`3
`
`the fact this day has only got so many hours in it, may, we
`
`may not finish everything we intended to finish, and we
`
`recognize that Your Honor may want to continue a portion of
`
`that, dependent upon where we end up today, at a later time .
`
`THE COURT: Okay, okay. What are you considering,
`
`running over into Monday?
`
`MR. MUDGE: Well, my understanding is that --
`
`THE COURT: Mr. Barclay just gave me that
`
`look that
`
`Ir ve given Judges;
`
`I have places to be and things to do.
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`I understand Mr. Barclay is not
`
`available next week, so we have to,
`
`I guess, consult, and
`
`with Your Honor' s calendar work out a time that ' s convenient
`
`for everybody to come back,
`
`if that' s necessary.
`
`THE COURT: Okay. This is no surprise to the
`
`defense.
`
`MR. KRAEUTLER: Your Honor,
`
`I think our
`
`presentation on this first grouping of claims, and you know
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`there's a lot concentrated in this grouping,
`
`it could be, you
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`know, also approximately half a day.
`
`I mean, could be short
`
`of that .
`
`It could be a full half day.
`
`So,
`
`I think it may
`
`even be a moving into a' likelihood that we may need to ask
`
`you for a little more time.
`
`THE COURT: Okay, okay.
`
`As long as that suits both
`
`j
`
`sides, you know, it suits me.
`
`The wrongful death I was set
`
`to try next week has settled, but you guys have schedules,
`
`SST-029143
`
`Page 00003
`
`

`
`too, and I'm -- I'll accommodate them.
`
`So, while most of my
`
`week is opened up next week, if yours hasn't,
`
`I understand
`
`that, and we'll plug this in at
`
`the next convenient date to
`
`wrap it up.
`
`I do not want to arbitrarily and tyrannically step
`
`on anybody's.right to put their case in, and that
`
`includes
`
`the defendants.
`
`I'm not going to shut this down at
`
`5:00 o'clock this afternoon.
`
`MR. BARCLAY:
`
`One comment, Your Honor,
`
`is we are
`
`saying that we view at
`
`least
`
`the more important claim terms
`
`first.
`
`So, we're certainly going to get Group I out of
`
`the
`
`way for both sides.
`
`We'll hopefully get Group II, which is the function
`
`claims, out of
`
`the way for both sides.
`
`That
`
`leaves the other
`
`terms.
`
`So,
`
`if we have to come back for the other terms, at
`
`least Your Honor has had,
`
`in a compact manner, what we view
`
`as most
`
`important stuff.
`
`And more importantly the,
`
`the claim
`
`terms that relate directly to what you heard testimony about
`
`yesterday.
`
`THE COURT:
`
`And frankly,
`
`from my perspective,
`
`you've all moved with real expedition, and I don't think
`
`anybody has been abusing the other side or me.
`
`So, okay.
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23 We're all on the same page,
`
`then.
`
`24
`
`i
`
`25
`
`Mr. Mudge.
`
`MR. MUDGE: Good morning, Your Honor.
`
`SST-029144
`
`Page 00004
`
`

`
`5
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`THE COURT: Good morning.
`
`MR. MUDGE: We are again picking up with our first
`
`group of claim terms. You'll recall, Your Honor, yesterday
`
`we ended our discussion with visual audio signal, and our
`
`construction of that, which was sound wave converted to
`
`binary.
`
`We're now turning to the remainder of Group I
`
`claims terms.
`
`The first one I would like to talk about this
`
`9 morning is "party," and the Sightsound contention that
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`"party" should be construed to be an entity or its agent.
`
`I have copies of
`
`the handouts for the Court.
`
`THE COURT:
`
`Thank you.
`
`MR. MUDGE: Your Honor, again using as an exemplary
`
`claim, Claim 1 in the 573 patents,
`
`to provide context, again,
`
`in the context of
`
`the invention as described by this claim,
`
`we see the word "party" shows up in a number of places.
`
`There's references to a first party,
`
`to a second
`
`party, first party having a memory, second party.having a
`
`memory, and so forth. Our contentions that "party" should be
`
`construed to be an entity or its agent are consistent, again,
`
`21 with the canons of claim construction based upon the
`
`22
`
`intrinsic evidence that we have both in specification and the
`
`23
`
`24
`
`prosecution file histories.
`
`The specification, and there's an example of
`
`the
`
`25
`
`. 734 file patent specification, refers to the Hard Disk 10 of
`
`SST-029145
`
`Page 00005
`
`

`
`6
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`the first party or agent authorized to electronically sell
`
`and distribute.
`
`And importantly, Your Honor,
`
`the prosecut ion
`
`history is consistent with this understanding that "party"
`
`was not meant
`
`to be just a single entity or individual, but
`
`could include agents. Statement made in an amendment during
`
`the prosecution of
`
`the first patent,
`
`the 573 patent;
`
`the
`
`first party or its agent or representative, which is the same
`
`thing.
`
`It's a statement made by the applicant,
`
`the statement
`
`to the patent office.
`
`Again,
`
`the patent examiner received this filing
`
`from the applicant.
`
`The patent examiner didn't object
`
`to
`
`this. This is what
`
`is contained in the file history. This
`
`is what
`
`the public has notice of when it reviews the file
`
`history.
`
`Another example from the file history,
`
`this is the
`
`same patent, 573 patent.
`
`This is from an amendment now,
`
`1991; previous slide was from 1990.
`
`Again,
`
`the applicant
`
`is explaining the invention
`
`and explaining how this works, and explaining what a party is
`
`meant to be in the context of this invention.
`
`It should be
`
`noted that the first party is defined as a licensee,
`
`franchiser, distributor, or whoever stands in for the first
`
`party.
`
`This is consistent with our construction;
`
`it's
`
`SST-029146
`
`Page 00006
`
`

`
`7
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`consistent with the understanding that "party" doesn't have
`
`to necessarily be a single, defined entity, but can be a
`
`related entity. Again,
`
`this language was not objected to by
`
`the examiner.
`
`This language is what
`
`the public sees when
`
`they review the file history, Your Honor.
`
`And again another example from the file history,
`
`this is from a statement contained in the 734 file history.
`
`It's a statement by the inventor; submitted a declaration:
`
`The first party includes the agent who is authorized to
`
`electronically sell and distribute music.
`
`Again,
`
`the consistent message here, Your Honor,
`
`is
`
`that when somebody reviews the patents,
`
`they review the file
`
`histories,
`
`they are going to see that a party is not simply a
`
`single entity, but a party as an entity, or agent, or
`
`representative who can act on behalf of that party.
`
`Now, where do we really differ with the defendants
`
`on this issue? We really differ in that our contention is
`
`that an entity or its agent
`
`is how a party should be
`
`construed.
`
`And the defendant's position is that
`
`the term
`
`"party" should be restricted to a single entity, cannot
`
`include agents, cannot
`
`include representatives.
`
`Now,
`
`I will note that the language you see there
`
`for their construction,
`
`they also have words like,
`
`financially distinct,
`
`locations separate.
`
`Let me just take a
`
`25 minute to comment about
`
`those.
`
`SST-029147
`
`Page 00007
`
`

`
`8
`
`I don't think Your Honor really has to rule on
`
`those particular,
`
`that particular terminology.
`
`The idea that
`
`a first party and a second party are financially distinct,
`
`first of all, was built into Claim 1 of the 573 patent.
`
`And
`
`further,
`
`it's been explained in the file history that the
`
`first party and the second party have to be financially
`
`distinct; otherwise, you don't have a sale. That's what a
`
`sale transaction is;
`
`two financially distinct parties.
`
`So,
`
`I don't think that Your Honor has to worry
`
`about whether or not
`
`to build financially distinct into the
`
`definition;
`
`it's there.
`
`And not only explicitly in some
`
`claim terms, but
`
`increases through the notion of electronic
`
`sales, which appears in claim sales .
`
`Secondly,
`
`the idea that
`
`location is separate,
`
`there
`
`is express language in the claims that talk about
`
`the
`
`memories being expressly located separate and apart
`
`from each
`
`other.
`
`You have them interconnected through
`
`telecommunications lines. Telecommunications means things at
`
`dif ferent
`
`locations .
`
`So again,
`
`I don' t think Your Honor has
`
`to rule one way or another whether the term "party" has to
`
`include this notion of' separate locations, separate,
`
`financially distinct.
`
`The crucial
`
`issue is,
`
`that we think Your Honor
`
`should look at
`
`is whether the term "party" is restricted to
`
`single entity or whether it can include agents. Sightsound' s
`
`i
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`SST-029148
`
`Page 00008
`
`

`
`9
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`position, of course,
`
`is based upon the specification and file
`
`history.
`
`The party can include an entity and/or its agent.
`
`The defendants base their argument primarily on
`
`this idea that if you include agent
`
`in the definition of a
`
`party, you now have something that varies with state law.
`
`Well, a couple responses, Your Honor . First of
`
`all, nowhere in intrinsic evidence is there any requirement
`
`of a contractual or legal relationship between an entity or
`
`its agent .
`
`It is anybody who acts in the position of the
`
`first party, somebody who stands in the shoes of
`
`the first
`
`party; does not require a formal
`
`legal agency contract .
`
`There's nothing in intrinsic evidence that refers
`
`to a legal definition.
`
`And I note that this argument
`
`contrasts with the position with respect
`
`to electronic sales .
`
`Electronic sales is another term that appears in
`
`the claims. Electronic sales could,
`
`in theory, be something
`
`that relies upon state law, because there are certainly state
`
`laws that apply to sales transactions, and those state laws
`
`vary from state to state. Nobody is saying, either side,
`
`that you can't
`
`include electronic sales as part of claim
`
`language,
`
`just because there should be some state law
`
`implication.
`
`So, we respectfully submit that defendants'
`
`position regarding this idea of
`
`legal relationship, or legal
`
`required relationship is not something that should prevent
`
`the definition of party to include an entity or its agent .
`
`SST-029149
`
`Page 00009
`
`

`
`10
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`And, Your Honor,
`
`I'm now going to move to the next
`
`set of terms. Control and possession.
`
`I have, again,
`
`handouts for the Court.
`
`THE COURT:
`
`Thank you.
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`And, Your Honor, of course, we're
`
`providing handouts to defendants' counsel of all these.
`
`THE COURT: Very good.
`
`MR. MUDGE: Okay. Your Honor, we have two terms at
`
`issue here, control and possession, and I'm addressing these
`
`together, because as Your Honor knows,
`
`the defendants have
`
`taken these terms and said that they belong together, and I
`
`think it's helpful to -- for the Court
`
`to consider them at
`
`the same time;
`
`to consider, yes,
`
`in fact,
`
`they are separate
`
`and distinct.terms and they deserve separate and distinct
`
`definitions.
`
`Control. Sightsound contends that control should
`
`be defined or construed to mean the authority to guide or
`
`manage.
`
`And possession. Sightsound contends that
`
`possession is a separate, distinct term; should have a
`
`separate meaning,
`
`to have or hold as property.
`
`And again,
`
`let's take a look at Claim 1,
`
`in the
`
`context of Claim 1 how these terms appear. Well,
`
`the very
`
`first instance points out
`
`the fact that these terms are
`
`different.
`
`The very first instance is a reference to the
`
`SST-029150
`
`Page 00010
`
`

`
`11
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`first party controlling use of the first memory.
`
`The word "possession" is not used in that express
`
`context.
`
`The word "possession" appears in other context
`
`4 within the claim. For example, when you move down,
`
`there's a
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`second party controlling use and possessing a second memory.
`
`That's in connection with the step of transferring money
`
`electronically. When we go down to the step of transmitting,
`
`a transmitter in control and possession of
`
`the first party; a
`
`receiver in control and possession of
`
`the second party.
`
`Again, explicit terms used separately.
`
`They are distinct.
`
`Our
`
`i.nterpretation, again, we're going to focus on
`
`the intrinsic evidence, Your Honor. We're going to look at
`
`the prosecution histories.
`
`We've looked at Claim 1. We've looked at
`
`the claim
`
`language.
`
`We are going to look at
`
`the prosecution histories.
`
`16 We'll
`
`look at
`
`the dictionary definition. We'll see our
`
`17
`
`definitions are consistent with prosecution histories, with
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`the definition in the dictionary.
`
`Control and possession are separate and distinct
`
`terms.
`
`In fact,
`
`they were added for the first time at
`
`different times, different points in the prosecution history.
`
`Looking at the 573 patent,
`
`the first of
`
`the three
`
`patents,
`
`in 1988 there was a preliminary amendment filed.
`
`This was filed before any prior art was applied by the
`
`examiner in a rejection of claims. At this stage the
`
`SST-029151
`
`Page 00011
`
`

`
`12
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`applicant came in and modified claims and added a claim with
`
`an element that recited controlling use. Transferring money
`
`to a party controlling use of
`
`the first memory.
`
`At this point in time possession was not added to
`
`the claim language at all. Possession was added later to the
`
`claim language, and it was added at different parts of
`
`the
`
`claim. But to the specific reference we have here, you
`
`remember back the slide when we showed Claim 1,
`
`the very
`
`first instance of controlling did not also have possession.
`
`That's consistent with our understanding, consistent with the
`
`public's understanding through notice that possession and
`
`12 I control are separate and distinct terms.
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`Control. This term was expressly defined in the
`
`intrinsic evidence.
`
`The examiner looked at the term and
`
`provided a definition. This is part of
`
`the rich history that
`
`Mr. Wells talked about
`
`the other day. Examiner said,
`
`applicant should note that
`
`the term "control" is interpreted
`
`to mean authority to guide or manage. That's explicitly,
`
`exactly the same definition that we contend today should be
`
`given to the term "control." This definition was not
`
`objected to, and clearly was carried forward in the
`
`understanding of the examiner and the applicant as these
`
`cases were prosecuted for the patent
`
`laws.
`
`And this is the
`
`definition that the public sees when they review the file
`
`2
`
`history.
`
`SST-029152
`
`Page 00012
`
`

`
`13
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`Possession. Again, we can look at possession and
`
`look at
`
`the meaning provided in the intrinsic evidence.
`
`The
`
`prosecution history ties possession with a notion of
`
`ownership, but not physical.
`
`And I'll come back to this
`
`later,
`
`in a couple of minutes. but it's not physical
`
`possession.
`
`We have here a response to an office action, again,
`
`in the 573 file history.
`
`It refers to another prior art
`
`reference, and Your Honor will remember that
`
`in the context
`
`of prosecution,
`
`it's common to refer to a prior art reference
`
`by a name.
`
`So,
`
`in this case Hughes is a reference to a prior
`
`art patent that the examiner had brought to the attention of
`
`the applicant.
`
`In this connection the applicant was responding to
`
`the rejection based upon Hughes. Hughes'
`
`receiver, although
`
`located in the user's home,
`
`is taught
`
`to be owned by the
`
`owner of
`
`the transmitter, somewhere located not
`
`in the user's
`
`home, and thus is in possession of
`
`the owner.
`
`So, here the applicant
`
`is saying, possession is
`
`tied to ownership, not who actually holds it physically.
`
`So,
`
`there's this notion of a property right. That's what
`
`possession is in the context of the file history.
`
`Again,
`
`further,
`
`further information of
`
`the file
`
`history. This is actually part of the same response to
`
`office action that we saw on the last slide.
`
`On the last
`
`SST-029153
`
`Page 00013
`
`

`
`14
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`slide there was discussion of possession.. Here in the same
`
`response the applicant talks about control.
`
`And consistent
`
`with examiner's definition, consistent with the understanding
`
`4 !
`
`it ties control
`
`to authority and management. Again,
`
`this is
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`a response to one of the prior art rejections. Further,
`
`the
`
`owner clearly controls the receiver, since he must collect
`
`the coins therefrom..
`
`If you're the only one who can collect coins,
`
`you've got
`
`to have some ability to manage and have authority
`
`over that device. You've got
`
`to be the one who has the key
`
`to get
`
`in that coin box.
`
`And, Your Honor, we just provide for understanding
`
`that, even dictionaries are consistent. Control; exercise of
`
`14
`
`authority or influence over,
`
`to direct. This is from
`
`15 Webster's.
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`Now, where do the parties differ, Your Honor?
`
`Again, we try to focus on those differences. Our contention
`
`is that control, possession are two separate terms; have
`
`separate and distinct meanings. Control means the authority
`
`to guide or manage. Possession,
`
`to have or hold as property.
`
`Defendants' require possession and control
`
`to be
`
`the same term, and they contend that it means in physical
`
`control and ownership.
`
`So,
`
`they require physical, and
`
`that's -- you recall,
`
`I referred to that earlier, Your Honor,
`
`physical, and they do not allow for the fact
`
`that
`
`these terms
`
`I
`
`SST-029154
`
`Page 00014
`
`

`
`15
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`have separate· and distinct meanings; of
`
`the limitations,
`
`the
`
`construction that defendants would put on these terms are not
`
`required.
`
`Intrinsic evidence does not suggest
`
`that you have
`
`to have physical control and physical ownership. Again,
`
`if
`
`you recall a couple of slides back, we talked about
`
`the prior
`
`art rejection based upon Hughes, and the argument was made
`
`before the patent office that in Hughes,
`
`the owner of
`
`the
`
`receiver was in possession, even though he didn't have
`
`physical domain over the receiver.
`
`And it wouldn't be consistent with the file history
`
`to say that any time you have "control," you also add the
`
`word "posses s ion . "
`
`That ' s inconsistent with the f ile
`
`history.
`
`That would add limitations to those claims.
`
`If
`
`there's a control element that doesn't recite possession,
`
`it
`
`would add a limitation.
`
`That
`
`limitation is not required.
`
`Finally, Your Honor,
`
`I want to respond to the
`
`argument
`
`that you've seen in the papers the defendants
`
`assert .
`
`They argue that if you look at
`
`the interpretation
`
`that we've provided and if you look at
`
`the claims,
`
`that you
`
`would read the claims that objects, such as memory, control a
`
`party.
`
`We respectfully contend that that argument
`
`is
`
`unreasonable .
`
`People understand variations in how words are
`
`used;
`
`the terms active versus passive language.
`
`SST-029155
`
`Page 00015
`
`

`
`16
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`The examiner never construed the claims this way.
`
`We don't think anybody, any reasonable person who reads these
`
`claims would arr.ive·at a conclusion, particularly given the
`
`specification on how the specification talks about electronic
`
`sales,
`
`that objects are in control of a party.
`
`So again,
`
`to conclude on this section,
`
`is control
`
`the authority to guide or manage.
`
`Possession, again,
`
`the term separately admitted
`
`into the file history, was not defined by the examiner when
`
`the examiner defined control. Possession, a separate term to
`
`have or hold as property.
`
`Your Honor, we'll move to our next;
`
`transferring
`
`money electronically.
`
`THE COURT:
`
`Thank you.
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`I'll provide handouts. Okay.
`
`Your Honor,
`
`transferring money electronically.
`
`Sightsound contends this means payment provided
`
`electronically. Very simple, straightforward definitión.
`
`Let's look at Claim 1 again,
`
`the 573.
`
`This term
`
`appears in the first sub-element
`
`listed under the preamble of
`
`21
`
`|
`
`the claim. Transferring money electronically via
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`telecommunication line to the first party.
`
`In the context of
`
`this claim, you see there's a transaction taking place.
`
`There's transferring of money, and there's a downloading of
`
`25 i digital audio.
`
`SST-029156
`
`Page 00016
`
`

`
`17
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`The intent from this claim,
`
`the intent of
`
`the
`
`specification, when you read the specification,
`
`is that this
`
`is an electronic sales;
`
`this is the transaction-based system.
`
`The intent from the claim is that a buyer gains access with
`
`the ability to download digital audio signals, but has to pay
`
`for it.
`
`That access does not come free.
`
`And again, Your Honor, we look to the intrinsic
`
`evidence to see what
`
`the prosecution history says about this
`
`claim.
`
`In the context of an example from the 734 file
`
`history there was a declaration submitted by the inventor,
`
`Arthur Hair.
`
`The inventor explained the meaning of
`
`transferring money electronically.
`
`One skilled in the art
`
`would know that an electronic sale inherently assumes a
`
`transferring of money -- and they provide some examples -- by
`
`providing an account number or a credit or debit card number,
`
`which then allows for access to transferring of . a service or
`
`product .
`
`we'll come back to this language in a little bit
`
`with the next
`
`term, but I want to f ocus Your Horior on what
`
`is
`
`being said here about
`
`the transaction. Transferring of money
`
`by providing an account number or credit card or debit card
`
`number.
`
`These are methods of providing payment. Everybody
`
`understands, you walk into a department store, you want
`
`to
`
`buy something.
`
`You give them a credit card number; give them
`
`.
`
`SST-029157
`
`Page 00017
`
`

`
`18
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`2s
`
`a credit card. That's your payment.
`
`It's a common,
`
`ordinarily understood mechanism for making a payment.
`
`Now, where do we differ from the defendants, Your
`
`Honor7 Again, we contend providing payment electronically is
`
`how the term should be construed.
`
`The defendants' definition, providing an
`
`authorization, and I'll skip over the telecommunciations
`
`lines, which allows the first party access to funds.
`
`Now,
`
`they have construed the term in the context of providing or
`
`transferring money electronically through a
`
`telecommunications line, and that's why the word
`
`"telecommunications lines" appears in their definition.
`
`That's not really what we're differing with them
`
`about.
`
`The difference is the words "authorization" and
`
`"access to funds."
`
`These words don't appear in the
`
`prosecution history.
`
`It's not clear what
`
`they mean.
`
`It adds
`
`ambiguity, adds unnecessary limitations.
`
`The terms "authorization," "access to funds" are
`
`not required by the intrinsic evidence.
`
`So, authorization,
`
`it's not required by the intrinsic evidence;
`
`it's an
`
`unnecessary limitation.
`
`You can stop there and decide that
`
`based upon the intrinsic evidence.
`
`Authorization, access to funds;
`
`they are not
`
`there.
`
`They are not required limitations. But even if Your Honor
`
`were to consider there was some ambiguity,
`
`that ambiguity is
`
`SST-029158
`
`Page 00018
`
`

`
`19
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`resolved by the intrinsic evidence that's been provided;
`
`evidence that is unrebutted by defendants.
`
`You'll recall
`
`in Dr. Tygar's declaration, Dr. Tygar
`
`discusses the nature of a credit card transaction as an
`
`example.
`
`In the context of
`
`the credit card transaction there
`
`may be -- it's an optional process -- there may be an
`
`authorization that takes place as part of
`
`the credit card
`
`transaction.
`
`The authorization may be something that the
`
`merchant has set up with a separate, a third party service,
`
`so before the merchant
`
`turns the goods over to somebody,
`
`they
`
`may check with some service to see if that credit card
`
`number,
`
`if that payment can be authorized, but
`
`they don't
`
`necessarily have to do that.
`
`They may not use an
`
`authorization service for a transaction.
`
`It's optional.
`
`So,
`
`it's certainly not required,
`
`in any stretch of
`
`the
`
`imagination,
`
`to have this authorization.
`
`Similarly, access to funds. Which funds?
`
`The
`
`seller doesn't necessarily get
`
`funds right then and there,
`
`but if he takes your credit card number, you get your product
`
`or service. Whether or not
`
`the seller gets access to funds,
`
`again,
`
`in Dr. Tygar's declaration,
`
`is part of a separate
`
`transaction between the seller;
`
`the merchant on the one hand,
`
`23 I and the credit card company on another.
`
`It's not required
`
`24
`
`25
`
`for the purposes of
`
`the transaction between the buyer and the
`
`seller.
`
`SST-029159
`
`Page 00019
`
`

`
`20
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`And indeed, Dr. Tygar presented evidence'that
`
`is
`
`well understood,
`
`is that once a buyer gives you a credit card
`
`number,. this is the example that the defendants raise,
`
`it's
`
`well understood that once the buyer gives you a credit card
`
`number,
`
`that's payment.
`
`Now, defendants contended that the definition,
`
`providing payment electronically, would exclude a credit card
`
`transaction. But yet, again, Dr. Tygar dealt with that
`
`issue
`
`and provided evidence that you make payment by giving the
`
`credit card number.
`
`Your Honor, we respectfully believe that our
`
`definition is a simple, straightforward, common sense
`
`understanding that everybody would understand, and that the
`
`limitations that defendants would inject are unnecessary and
`
`unreasonable.
`
`We're going to move to selling electronically and
`
`similar terms.
`
`I have, again, handouts for Your Honor.
`
`THE COURT:
`
`Thank you.
`
`MR. MUDGE:
`
`Now, and this connects with this term.
`
`I want
`
`to note,
`
`this is related to the last term we talked
`
`about.
`
`As you'll see as we go through,
`
`transferring money
`
`electronically,
`
`the notion of providing a payment
`
`is part of
`
`23 | what's involved in electronic sales.
`
`24 I
`
`Electronic sales really refers to a transaction,
`
`25
`
`and as we'll see, providing a product or service
`
`SST-029160
`
`Page 00020
`
`

`
`21
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`electronically in exchange for payment provided
`
`electronically.
`
`And that payment provided electronically,
`
`again,
`
`it's the same definition we used in our discussion of
`
`transferring money electronically.
`
`Now, both sides have agreed that when the claims
`
`referred to selling electronically, electronically selling,
`
`or electronic sales,
`
`that there's really no distinction among
`
`those terms, other than the fact
`
`that
`
`there's a slight tense
`
`difference.
`
`They each are construed to mean the same thing.
`
`Again, as we suggest, producing a product or service
`
`electronically in exchange for payment provided
`
`electronically.
`
`Now, where do the words, electronically selling,
`
`where do they show up?
`
`As an example, Claim 4 of
`
`the 734
`
`patent discusses electronic sales. Refers to electronic
`
`sales, and refers to means for electronically selling.
`
`This is a system claim.
`
`It's slightly different
`
`form than the claim we've been looking at. Claim 1 is method
`
`claim. Claim 1 calls out steps;
`
`this calls out system set of
`
`hardware and software that
`
`implements the invention.
`
`Now,
`
`I'm just going to note for Your Honor that
`
`electronically selling in this context has the meaning --
`
`electronic sales has the meaning we're going to discuss.
`
`I'm
`
`not going to discuss the implication of the means for
`
`language. That will be part of another presentation we make
`
`SST-029161
`
`Page 00021
`
`

`
`22
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`in the second group of
`
`terms.
`
`So,
`
`I'm focusing on just the words "electronic
`
`sales," "electronically selling," "selling electronically."
`
`What do they mean?
`
`And focusing on the bottom of
`
`the claim here,
`
`the
`
`context
`
`in the invention is, as we see,
`
`telecommunications
`
`lines through which electronic sales through which this
`
`transaction takes place.
`
`The context
`
`is the transaction
`
`takes place through telecommunications lines,
`
`through
`
`electronic means, and the transaction, as we will see,
`
`involves getting a product or service, getting the digital
`
`audio signale in exchange for the money that's provided,
`
`the
`
`payment.
`
`Our
`
`interpretation is consistent with the
`
`prosecution history.
`
`And again,
`
`the intrinsic evidence
`
`includes the prosecution history.
`
`I
`
`just referred to the
`
`claim language itself.
`
`The claim language itself calls for
`
`electronic delivery, electronic payment.
`
`We'll go through and look at
`
`the prosecution
`
`history and see that it's consistent.
`
`In the 573 file
`
`history there's an amendment. This is one of a number of
`
`discussions that are in the file history about electronic
`
`sales.
`
`And here the applicant
`
`is talking about electronic
`
`sales and comparing it to a part of the specification,
`
`to one
`
`of the figures where it refers to telephone lines 30.
`
`SST-029162
`
`Page 00022
`
`

`
`23
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`Electronic sales over telephone lines 30;
`
`the device that's
`
`called for in the figure,
`
`the element called for in the
`
`figure, are terms which encompass the well-known process of
`
`providing a credit card number over a telephone line.
`
`And again,
`
`this is in the context of an electronic
`
`transaction.
`
`The invention is selling music in download
`
`fashion, and the invention clearly sets forth that
`
`the
`
`transaction,
`
`the payment as well as the delivery, are done
`
`electronically.
`
`The means,
`
`the inventor,
`
`then the meaning of
`
`electronic sales.
`
`Again, we saw this declaration a few minutes ago.
`
`This is a declaration from the 734 file history of
`
`the
`
`inventor, explaining the meaning of electronic sales.
`
`One skilled in the art would know that an
`
`electronic sale inherently assumes a transferring of
`

`
`money -- we talked about that
`
`in the last topic,
`
`transferring
`
`money electronically -- which then allows for access to or
`
`transferring of a service or product
`
`from telecommunications
`
`lines. Again, electronic delivery.
`
`It's the same thing
`
`called for by the claim language.
`
`So, you have an electronic
`
`transaction.
`
`You pay electronically.
`
`You receive goods or
`
`services electronically.
`
`Now,
`
`in their papers defendants have pointed to a
`
`declaration filed, a similar declaration to this filed in the
`
`5'73 file history.
`
`And the language in that declaration was
`
`SST

This document is available on Docket Alarm but you must sign up to view it.


Or .

Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.

After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.

Accept $ Charge
throbber

Still Working On It

This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.

Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.

throbber

A few More Minutes ... Still Working

It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.

Thank you for your continued patience.

This document could not be displayed.

We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.

Your account does not support viewing this document.

Set your membership status to view this document.

With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll get a whole lot more, including:

  • Up-to-date information for this case.
  • Email alerts whenever there is an update.
  • Full text search for other cases.
  • Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.

Become a Member

One Moment Please

The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.

Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.

Your document is on its way!

If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.

Sealed Document

We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.

If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.


Access Government Site

We are redirecting you
to a mobile optimized page.





Document Unreadable or Corrupt

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket

We are unable to display this document.

Refresh this Document
Go to the Docket