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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`GOOGLE INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`ALFONSO CIOFFI, MEGAN ELIZABETH ROZMAN,
`MELANIE ANN ROZMAN, AND MORGAN LEE ROZMAN,
`Patent Owners.
`____________
`
`Case CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`____________
`
`
`
`PATENT OWNER BRIEF ON FEDERAL CIRCUIT DECISIONS
`
`
`
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`
`Alfonso Cioffi, Megan Rozman, Melanie Rozman, and Morgan Rozman
`
`(collectively, “Patent Owner”) hereby provide this brief in response to an invitation
`
`to address the impact of Unwired Planet, LLC v. Google Inc., 841 F.3d 1376 (Fed.
`
`Cir. 2016) (“Unwired Planet “) and Secure Axcess, LLC v. PNC Bank National
`
`Assoc., 848 F.3d 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2017) (“Secure Axcess“) on this proceeding.
`
`Firstly, inasmuch as the Petitioner Google Inc. (“Petitioner”) bears the burden to
`
`support the Petition for Covered Business Method Review of U.S. Patent No.
`
`RE43,528 (“Petition”), the Patent Owner continues to believe that the Petitioner’s
`
`conclusory support for the Petition has failed to meet the burden to support the
`
`same. This is simply not a covered business method (“CBM”)-eligible patent and
`
`the Petitioner continues to pursue the same, even in view of Unwired Planet and
`
`Secure Axcess.
`
`The Patent Owner addressed Unwired Planet in the Patent Owner
`
`Preliminary Response. The Federal Circuit rejected a definition of CBM patents
`
`that relies on activities that are “incidental to” or “complementary to” a financial
`
`activity, and stressed that CBM patents must be “financial in nature.” Unwired
`
`Planet, 841 F.3d at 1382 (holding that “CBM patents are limited to those with
`
`claims that are directed to methods and apparatuses of particular types and with
`
`particular uses ‘in the practice, administration, or management of a financial
`
`product or service.’”).
`
`Patent Owner Brief on Federal Circuit Decisions
`
`Page 1
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`
`The operative inquiry is not what the claims cover, but what the claims are
`
`directed to. See id. (“[T]he claims of the ditch-digging method or apparatus are
`
`not directed to ‘performing data processing or other operations’ or ‘used in the
`
`practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service,’ as
`
`required by the statute.” (emphasis added)).
`
`In Secure Axcess, the Federal Circuit affirmed the holding of Unwired
`
`Planet finding that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (the “Board”) definition of
`
`the CBM scope was contrary to the statute. In the underlying proceeding, the
`
`Board had concluded that “[t]he method and apparatus claimed by the ’191 patent
`
`perform operations used in the practice, administration, or management of a
`
`financial product or service and are incidental to a financial activity.” Secure
`
`Axcess, 848 F.3d at 1381. (emphasis added). This expansive definition of a CBM
`
`patent, however, was found to be beyond the scope of the plain statutory language
`
`and therefore rejected. See id.
`
`Even more recently in Google Inc. v. Klaustech. (CBM2016-00096), the
`
`Board followed the Federal Circuit’s new guidance in Unwired Planet to deny the
`
`CBM review because the challenged claims were not “directed to the practice,
`
`administration, or management of a financial product or service.” Google Inc., v.
`
`Klaustech, CBM2016-00096, at 11 (Feb. 27, 2017) (“Klaustech”).
`
`Patent Owner Brief on Federal Circuit Decisions
`
`Page 2
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`
`In this proceeding, none of the challenged claims are “directed to the
`
`practice, administration, or management of a financial product or service.” The
`
`Petition challenges Claims 1, 5, 8, 21-24, 30, 44, 64, and 67 of U.S. Patent No.
`
`RE43,528 (“Challenged Claims”). The Challenged Claims of U.S. Patent No.
`
`RE43,528 (“’528 Reissue”) are not financial in nature, but are claims of general
`
`utility with no finance-related terminology or limitations. Generally, independent
`
`Claims 1, 21, 44, and 64 recite, among other things, a multi-process browser
`
`architecture such that data or a system file is protected from malware. Claims 1,
`
`21, 44, and 64 recite a “first web browser process” and “second web browser
`
`process.” The “first web browser process” (i) is executed or opened “in a first
`
`logical process” that is “capable of accessing” or “configured to access” “data
`
`contained in [a/the] first memory space,” as recited in Claims 1, 21, and 64, or (ii)
`
`is “capable of accessing data contained in the first memory space,” as recited in
`
`Claim 44. The “second web browser process” (i) is executed or opened “in a
`
`second logical process” that is “capable of accessing” or “configured to access”
`
`“data contained in the second memory space,” as recited in Claims 1, 21, and 64,
`
`or (ii) is “capable of accessing data contained in the second memory space,” as
`
`recited in Claim 44. The “data residing on the first memory space is protected
`
`from corruption by a malware process . . . executing as part of the second web
`
`browser process,” as recited in Claim 1, or “the at least one system file residing on
`
`Patent Owner Brief on Federal Circuit Decisions
`
`Page 3
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`
`the first memory space is protected from corruption by a malware process . . .
`
`executing” within or as part of “the second web browser process,” as recited in
`
`Claims 21, 44, and 64.” See also Ex. 2001 (Dunsmore Decl.) at ¶¶ 54-55. The
`
`remaining Challenged Claims depending from Claims 1, 21, 44, and 64 generally
`
`recite further details of the multi-process browser architecture.
`
`Nothing in the Challenged Claims is financial in nature. Nothing in these
`
`claims explicitly or inherently requires anything that is financial. Nothing in these
`
`claims contemplates an exchange or movement of money. The Petitioner argues
`
`that the claims cover and imply using a secure web browser in the specification’s
`
`internet banking embodiment, which is indisputably a financial activity, and that
`
`all of the Challenged Claims are tied to a specific financial activity described in the
`
`’528 Reissue. The Petitioner is referring to the internet banking embodiment for
`
`the specific financial activity. The Patent Owner concedes that the Challenged
`
`Claims “cover” the internet banking embodiment, but this is wholly irrelevant. For
`
`the reasons as set forth in the Preliminary Response, the Challenged Claims are not
`
`directed to, and hence, are not “tied to” and do not “imply”, the internet banking
`
`embodiment. As the Federal Circuit has indicated in Unwired Planet, such claims
`
`that could “cover” but are not “directed to” a banking application would not be
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`sufficient to convey CBM eligibility.
`
`Patent Owner Brief on Federal Circuit Decisions
`
`Page 4
`
`

`

`
`
`
`
`
`
`CBM2017-00010
`Patent RE43,528
`
`In sum, the Challenged Claims have general utility with no relation to
`
`financial services; the Challenged Claims are common in business environments
`
`across sectors with no particular relation to financial services. The’528 Reissue is
`
`simply not a CBM-eligible patent as confirmed by Unwired Planet, Secure Axcess,
`
`and Klaustech.
`
`Dated: April 7, 2017
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`
`
`
`
`/Glenn W. Boisbrun/
`Glenn W. Boisbrun
`Reg. No. 39,615
`gboisbrun@bh-ip.com
`Boisbrun Hofman, PLLC
`12900 Preston Rd.
`Suite 204
`Dallas, TX 75230
`Telephone: 972-385-9755
`Facsimile: 855-475-2987
`
`Lead Counsel for Patent Owner
`Alfonso Cioffi et al.
`
`
`
`Patent Owner Brief on Federal Circuit Decisions
`
`Page 5
`
`

`

`
`
`Certificate of Service
`
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.6(e), the undersigned certifies that on April 7,
`2017 a complete copy of the foregoing was served on counsel of record for the
`Petitioner by filing this document through PTAB E2E and by sending this
`document via electronic mail to the following addresses:
`
`
`James L. Day
`Reg. No. 72,681
`jday@fbm.com
`
`Daniel Callaway
`Reg. No. 74,267
`dcallaway@fbm.com
`
`
`Farella Braun + Martel LLP
`235 Montgomery Street, 17th Floor
`San Francisco, CA 94104
`
`calendar@fbm.com
`
`
`
`Dated: April 7, 2017
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`
`
`
`
` /Liz Schumacher/
`Liz Schumacher
`Boisbrun Hofman, PLLC
`12900 Preston Rd.
`Suite 204
`Dallas, TX 75230
`Telephone: 972-385-9755
`Facsimile: 855-475-2987
`
`
`
`

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