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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`___________
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`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`___________
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`FACEBOOK, INC., MATCH.COM LLC,
`PEOPLE MEDIA, INC., and GOOGLE INC.
`Petitioner
`
`v.
`
`B.E. TECHNOLOGY, L.L.C.
`Patent Owner
`___________
`
`Case IPR2014-000531
`Patent 6,628,314 B1
`___________
`
`
`Before SALLY C. MEDLEY, KALYAN K. DESHPANDE, and
`LYNNE E. PETTIGREW, Administrative Patent Judges.
`
`DESHPANDE, Administrative Patent Judge.
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`
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`PATENT OWNER’S REPLY TO PETITIONER’S OPPOSITION TO
`PATENT OWNER’S CONTINGENT MOTION TO AMEND
`(37 C.F.R. § 42.121)
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`1 Cases IPR2014-00698 has been joined with this proceeding.
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`Patent Owner respectfully submits this reply to the opposition of Petitioner
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`Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) to its Contingent Motion to Amend.
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`I.
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`THE PROPOSED CLAIMS ARE PATENTABLE OVER PRIOR ART
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`As previously discussed, Apte discloses streaming advertisements to a client
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`computer based on a user’s current viewing habits. Apte discloses that advertising
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`software is downloaded to a client computer and acts as an overlay to a browser.
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`Exhibit 1008 at 3:33-41. The advertising software provides capabilities to the user,
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`including “buttons for the user to control the presentation and content of
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`advertisements, and for the user to view multimedia information, securely purchase
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`an item, clip an electronic coupon.” See id. at 3:42-45. Apte further discloses that
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`advertisements can be targeted to the user based upon various recorded
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`information. Id. at 9:56-68, 10:3-5, 10:11-13.
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`It is clear from the disclosure of Apte that the advertising software
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`downloaded to the client computer records user interaction with the advertising
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`software because advertisements are targeted based upon audit trails of
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`functionalities specifically provided by the advertising software.
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`Facebook has not shown that one of ordinary skill in the art would have been
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`motivated to combine Apte with either of its other two obviousness combinations.
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`Mr. Sherwood’s declaration states in conclusory fashion that one of ordinary skill
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`would have been motivated to combine Apte with either of the Shaw combinations,
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`but he offers no explanation of how the specific teaching of Apte could be
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`combined with the other two combinations. Mr. Sherwood offers no analysis of
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`how or why the combinations could be made, beyond result-oriented statements
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`that the combination would result in a system having all elements of the proposed
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`amended claim. The Federal Circuit has cautioned against this hindsight
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`reasoning. Ruiz v. A.B. Chance Co., 357 F.3d 1270, 1275 (Fed. Cir. 2004);
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`Ecolochem, Inc. v. S. California Edison Co., 227 F.3d 1361, 1371 (Fed. Cir. 2000).
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`Facebook’s reliance on Barrett is also misplaced. Barrett describes an
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`observer agent that monitors user interaction with a web browser to determine
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`information to be pushed to a user computer. See Ex. 1035 at Abstract, 9:18-46.
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`Barrett does not disclose advertising software downloaded to a client, and the
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`generalized statements in Barrett regarding the desirability of understanding a
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`user’s behavior adds nothing to references already identified. Barrett makes no
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`mention of demographics, targeted advertising, or advertising at all. Facebook’s
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`presentation regarding motivation to combine Barrett with the Shaw combinations
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`are similarly conclusory, and without support. Ruiz, 357 F.3d at 1275.
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`None of the references, alone or in combination, teaches or suggests
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`computer usage information comprises information about the user’s interactions
`with said computer software displaying advertising content and at least one
`other program …[or] selecting advertising content for transfer to the computer
`in accordance with real-time and other computer usage information and
`demographic information associated with said unique identifier.
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`II. THE PROPOSED CLAIMS ARE PATENTABLE UNDER § 101
`Facebook argues that the subject matter of the proposed substitute claims is
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`not patentable under 35 U.S.C. § 101. Facebook bases its argument on the notion
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`that the proposed substitute claims “are directed to the abstract idea of improving
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`advertising results by showing people advertising for products and services they
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`are interested in purchasing.” Paper 34 at 12. That is obviously not true. The
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`proposed substitute claims are not written in a manner that would capture all or a
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`significant part of this idea, and it is plainly wrong to construe them to do so.
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`The Supreme Court has recently addressed the idea that “abstract ideas” are
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`not patentable under Section 101, while also cautioning against the indiscriminate
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`use of the “abstract ideas” concept. In Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Intl, 134 S. Ct.
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`2347, 2354 (2014), the Court explained that “[a]t some level, all inventions . . .
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`embody, use, reflect, rest upon, or apply laws of nature, natural phenomena, or
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`abstract ideas.” One must “tread
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`carefully in construing this exclusionary principle lest it swallow all of patent law.” Id.
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`The Supreme Court has “described the concern that drives this exclusionary
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`principle as one of pre-emption,” recognizing that if tools could be “monopolized”
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`through the grant of a patent, innovation might be impeded more than it would be
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`promoted. Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Labs., 132 S. Ct. 1289,
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`1354 (2012). The proposed substitute claims present no such threat as they are
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`actually written. In applying the exclusionary rule, courts must “distinguish
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`between patents that claim the ‘buildin[g] block[s]’ of human ingenuity and those
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`that integrate the building blocks into something more.” Id. at 1303. The proposed
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`substitute claims do not claim any such “building blocks,” and they cannot be said
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`merely to transport an abstract idea to a computer. (Given the limitations of the
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`proposed claims, it would not, of course, be possible to practice them without a
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`computer.) Those interested in “improving advertising results by showing people
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`advertising for products and services they are interested in purchasing” have ample
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`opportunity to do so, notwithstanding the proposed substitute claims, on line or off
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`line, with or without the use of the specific types of information called for by the
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`proposed claims, and with or without the use of the specific steps required by the
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`proposed substitute claims.
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`III. THE PROPOSED CLAIMS ARE NOT INDEFINITE
`Facebook asserts that the proposed substitute claims are indefinite under 35
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`U.S.C. § 112(b) because “real time” is not defined. “Real time” is used in the ’314
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`patent to refer to events that occur while a user is engaged in an activity. In the
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`Abstract, there is a reference to what happens “when the user runs the program.”
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`Exhibit 1101, Abstract. Elsewhere, the reference is to matters “relevant to what
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`the user is doing at any particular time.” Id. at 16:9-14. A prior art patent that
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`refers to advertisement queues that are prepared off-line is distinguished as not
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`providing for “real time targeting of advertising based upon user actions.” Id. at
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`3:30-32. There is a clear objective boundary on the concept. It is not necessary
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`that the boundary be expressed as a specific duration of a period of time.
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`IV. CONCLUSION
`For the foregoing reasons and those set forth in its Contingent Motion to
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`Amend, Patent Owner B.E. Technology, L.L.C. respectfully requests that the
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`Board grant its Contingent Motion to Amend in the event original Claim 11 is
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`found not to be patentable.
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`
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`Date: October 10, 2014
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`Respectfully submitted,
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`
`
`By: /s/Jason S. Angell
`Jason S. Angell
`Reg. No. 51408
`Counsel for Patent Owner
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`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
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`It is certified that a copy of the foregoing has been served on Petitioner as
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`provided in 37 C.F.R. § 42.6(e) via electronic mail transmission addressed to the
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`persons at the address below:
`
`Heidi L. Keefe
`Mark R. Weinstein
`Orion Armon
`COOLEY, LLP
`hkeefe@cooley.com
`mweinstein@cooley.com
`oarmon@cooley.com
`IPR2014-00052-53@cooley.com
`
`Sanjay Murthy (Reg. No. 45,976)
`Kacy Dicke (Reg. No. 67,392)
`K&L Gates LLP
`sanjay.murthy@klgates.com
`kacy.dicke@klgates.com
`
`
`
`
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`Date: October 10, 2014
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`
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`
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`By: /s/Jason S. Angell
`Jason S. Angell
`Reg. No. 51408
`Counsel for Patent Owner
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