`571-272-7822
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`Paper # 53
`Entered: September 9, 2020
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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`DROPBOX, INC
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`SYNCHRONOSS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`IPR2016-00850
`IPR2016-00851
`Patent 6,671,757 B1
`____________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: March 25, 2019
`____________
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`
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`Before TREVOR M. JEFFERSON, DAVID C. MCKONE and
`CHARLES J. BOUDREAU, Administrative Patent Judges.
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`IPR 2016-00850 & IPR 2016-00851
`Patents 6,671,757 B1
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`APPEARANCES:
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`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER:
`DAVID M. KRINSKY, ESQUIRE
`ADAM D. HARBER, ESQUIRE
`Williams & Connolly, LLP
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`
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER:
`SCOTT W. CUMMINGS, ESQUIRE
`MARTIN A. BRUEHS, ESQUIRE
`Denton US, LLP
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`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Monday,
`March 25, 2019, commencing at 1:30 p.m., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark
`Office, 600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia, before Donna Jenkins,
`Notary Public.
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`P R O C E E D I N G S
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`CLERK: All rise.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Good afternoon. You can be seated.
`Okay. Good afternoon. We are here for a case under IPR2016-00850,
`IPR2016-00851. With me today are Judges McKone and Boudreau who are
`appearing remotely. And Dropbox, Inc is Petitioner and Synchronoss
`Technologies, Inc is the Patent Owner for patent number 6,671,757.
`Following remand from the Federal Circuit, we are here for 30 minutes of
`argument for each side for the issues that were not instituted upon in the
`prior proceedings. But each party will have 30 minutes to make their case.
`The Petitioner can reserve some rebuttal time on those issues in which bares
`the burden. You can let me know at the outset and I will do my best to keep
`track with those times in the room. If you’re going to be using it -- we have
`your demonstratives which we received. If you’re going to be using any
`evidence that -- it’s best that you refer to the page number and exhibit
`number so that the judges appearing remotely can follow along.
`Let’s start with Petitioner. Can you make the appearances?
`MR. KRINSKY: David Krinsky from Williams and Connolly LLP on
`behalf of Petitioner, Dropbox. With me at counsel table is Adam Harber,
`also Williams and Connolly.
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Good afternoon. And for Patent Owner?
`MR. CUMMINGS: Good afternoon. Scott Cummings for Patent Owner,
`Synchronoss and with me at the counsel table is my partner, Martin Bruehs,
`also attorney record for the Patent Owner.
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`MR. BRUEHS: Good afternoon.
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Okay. Thank you. Good afternoon.
`If we have any -- unless we have any housekeeping issues or questions,
`Petitioner can --
`MR. KRINSKY: The only housekeeping issue, Your Honor, is I have hard
`copies of the demonstratives. I know two of the judges are remote, but if
`Your Honor would like one, I’m happy to pass one on.
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: I will take one actually.
`MR. KRINSKY: Sure. Just one or would you like
`one for your colleagues?
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Just one for me.
`MR. KRINSKY: May I approach, Your Honor?
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Yes. Thank you.
`MR. KRINSKY: And Your Honor, if I may, I’d like to reserve 10 minutes
`for rebuttal.
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Okay.
`MR. KRINSKY: Please.
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: You can begin when you’re ready.
`MR. KRINSKY: Thank you, Your Honor. May it please the Board. With
`the Board’s permission, I think it would make sense to start with the CVS
`grounds, grounds 3 and 4, which pertain to the CVS documentation
`reference that was not previously before the Board and with which the Board
`may therefore have a little bit less familiarity since we’re back here for the
`second time. So I’m going to start at Slide 11.
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`The CVS documentation teaches a system that clearly teaches all of the
`elements of the claims from the -- based on the argumentation in the
`briefing, there really doesn’t seem to be a serious argument about the overall
`structure of the system and how it performs synchronization. The CVS
`system is designed to allow multiple clients to commit to use the CVS
`terminology changes to a central repository and then for other clients to
`receive the changes from that repository in the form of CVS update
`messages. I’ve put on Slide 11, Figure 3 of the 757 Patent showing, sort of,
`the overall structure of the system just to remind Your Honors that this sort
`of -- all of the claims are directed to this system of multiple clients with sync
`engines, to use the language of the claims, and a central data store in which
`you see these little deltas changes are sent in the form of difference
`information from one client to the data store and then from the data store to a
`second client. The CVS system as embodied in the documentation and as
`implemented as of the date of the documentation, uses difference
`information to convey changes from the repository to a client that’s doing an
`update. So the system corresponding to system B in Figure 3 of the 757
`Patent.
`I’ve indicated that by highlighting the little delta here. And I wanted to flag
`for Your Honors before we get into what I think is the key disputed
`limitation, which is the committing of difference information from system A
`to the repository, how the system goes about sending those changes from the
`repository to the second client because I think it illustrates why
`Synchronoss’ arguments against anticipation here are off base. CVS
`includes this functionality called “CVS diff,” which generates the
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`differences between an old and a new version of the data, and takes those
`differences, and instructions for where to put them, and can simply be used
`at the command line in the form of the CVS diff command, but is also used
`as Exhibit 1004, which describes the CVS client server protocol is also used
`to communicate differences and instructions for how to apply them from the
`central server to a client that’s doing an update. That’s the RCS diff
`command that I have at the bottom of Slide 11. So that functionality is
`already present in the CVS system that is described in Exhibit 1005. The
`dispute concerns the teachings of the CVS documentation to modify the
`CVS system and use difference information from the first client to the
`repository. One way to do this, which is the way that is described in Exhibit
`1005, is simply to upload the whole file if a file has changed and that was, I
`believe, the focus of the Board’s Institution Decision declining to institute
`on this ground originally.
`It was also the focus of Synchronoss’ argumentation as well CVS doesn’t
`embody the claim. It doesn’t teach the required difference information. But
`the very same references we’re talking about here, the one reference there
`split across two documents, Exhibit 1004 could hardly have a more express
`teaching of what to do to this system to use difference information. It
`teaches, on Page 31, I have it up on Slide 12, that the modified request,
`which is undisputedly the client server protocol request used to
`communicate changes from a client to the repository, could be speeded up
`by sending diffs rather than entire files. I submit to you that this is a
`teaching to do exactly on the upload side what CVS already does on the
`download side and with that minor change, CVS does exactly what the
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`claims require. It allows information to be synchronized from System A to
`the repository to System B using difference information at both steps and in
`fact using the same difference information at both steps assuming the -- you
`have an old version of the file at System A and System B and then
`somebody changes it on System A. Synchronoss’ response to this argument
`is -- takes, I think, a couple of forms. One is that this would somehow be
`difficult to do. That there is an inadequate teaching here of to make this an
`enabling disclosure of how to use difference information in this manner, but
`I submit to you that CVS -- excuse me, Synchronoss is off base.
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`And I moved on to Slide 13, which calls out some of the arguments
`they made in their POPR. Synchronoss argues that client’s local computers
`would need to be provided with sufficiently robust storage capabilities to
`handle all of these, you know -- keeping around a previous version of a file
`that could be used to generate difference information in this manner. That is
`something that the very same text we’re relying on calls out. It says the
`client would need some way to keep the version of the file which was
`originally checked out. So the reference already recognizes how to go about
`doing this. Keep a version of the file which was originally checked out. I
`want to emphasize that it says, “Of the file.” It’s not saying keep a copy of
`every file someone might want to edit. It’s keeping a copy of the version of
`the file that someone is editing. And it says after the semicolon, “The way
`to do that is to use the CVS edit command,” which as the documentation
`explains it’s called out at Exhibit 1005, Page 64, is a command that provides
`exclusive access to files when a user -- ordinarily, in the CVS system, you
`have any user can edit any file and then their changes are committed as the
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`documentation explains when a user types “CVS commit.” It is also
`possible though to use the system in an exclusive access mode where you
`have -- you lock a file. And to do that, that’s what the CVS edit command is
`for. That would give you the ability to make a copy of the data so that you
`keep around a previous version of the data as this ports construction of
`difference transaction generator requires before committing the change.
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`There is also a -- that also addresses the second criticism that CVS
`system would have to have the capability of maintaining a pristine original
`copy of a modified document. Synchronoss suggests also that this is some
`kind of big problem. Big, big change to the -- that would be necessary to the
`system that the disclosure hasn’t enabled. Well, the CVS system, in fact,
`already provides this functionality moving forward to Slide 14. There are
`circumstances that the documentation describes. One example is at Exhibit
`1004, Page 60, where a copy of the original working file is saved in place so
`that code to do that is already there. Likewise, the code to generate
`differences is already there because the CVS client software and the CVS
`server software, as the documentation describes, and I’ve called out. This is
`from the documentation at Exhibit 1005 at Page 5. It’s all one program
`that’s invoked different ways to be used as a client or a server. So under the
`governing test here which is not, does the documentation describe in every
`minute detail how to go about making this change, but rather is this an
`enabling disclosure of how to make the change that is taught. This clearly
`passes the test. You could hardly have a clearer teaching of changing a
`system in order to improve upon the system here by speeding it up than you
`have in Exhibit 1004.
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`Let me briefly address the question of whether this is anticipation or
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`whether this is obviousness. I’ve just described modification to a system
`and then there was a good deal of debate about whether this is one reference
`or two. We would submit to you that this is all one reference because they
`were distributed together. The two documents, Exhibit 1004 and 1005,
`really are best looked at as chapters of a book, or maybe a manual and an
`appendix, to the manual one is a documentation for the system and the other
`is -- describes the protocol. But they were distributed together as part of one
`download package. They’re properly seen as one reference and that one
`reference teaches every limitation of the claim through a combination of
`describing the system as it has been implemented, and a to do list, if you
`will, of changes to be made to that system that is anticipation. But if it is not
`anticipation and if the Board can --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: What evidence do you have that the -- these two
`documents were distributed together?
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`MR. KRINSKY: Dr. Bestavros explains -- lays out all the evidence in
`his declaration around Paragraph 148. He explains how these were together
`in a CVS download package called CVS1103.tar.g.zip and then describes the
`directory structure there. So it’s in his declaration Exhibit 1002, and then
`the various materials he cites. He cites a number of documents that are
`directory listings and the like laying all that out.
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`JUDGE MCKONE: Now, he acquired this software package after the
`critical date; is that correct?
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`MR. KRINSKY: He acquired it after the -- he acquired this exact
`version of it after the critical date. He had personally used it before the
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`critical date and laid out his experience with it. But, yes, this copy of it is
`one that he located on the web. It has its own internal date information and
`it also -- he referred to the Wayback machine and described based on his
`knowledge of how this was distributed at the time by Cyclic software. So as
`I said, the information is laid out there but he, I mean, he hasn’t been sitting
`on this copy of the software since, you know, since the critical date.
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`JUDGE MCKONE: I’ll let you make your obviousness argument, but
`I will want to circle back to the point
`of publication issue.
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`MR. KRINSKY: Sure. Sure. The obviousness argument really is
`just to say it’s the same as the anticipation argument and it doesn’t really
`matter what legal label Your Honors choose to apply to it. If there is a
`concern about whether these are one -- these are two references rather than
`one, you could hardly have a stronger motivation to combine two references
`than one reference describing something, and a second reference describing
`the changes that you would make to that exact thing that were distributed
`together. They were also describing the same exact system, so it’s a “to do”
`list for how to modify the system described in Exhibit 1005.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: What,in the claims that you are
`claiming,could you state are combination then of the two CVS documents?
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`MR. KRINSKY: I mean, I think the one limitation would be the use
`of difference information to communicate from what’s described in various
`ways the first system, or the first client, or the first device to the data store.
`Our view is that they’re all present, they’re all talking about the same system
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`but that is the one limitation that’s a prophetic teaching rather than a
`description of a system that’s already been implemented.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: And what of Patent Owner’s arguments of the
`modified request which is the sync engine in particular has to contain both a
`copy of the original data and a -- some kind of difference information
`extracted from the changes between the original file or original document
`and changed file; is that correct? So at least it would be -- should be three
`things or two things that are present in the difference transaction generator
`which is part of the sync engine. Just to be at that first sync engine on the
`first system it should therefore, contain both the changed data -- the original
`file, the changed data, and the current file. Am I understanding that
`correctly?
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`MR. KRINSKY: I believe, if I understand Your Honor’s question
`correctly, I believe the answer is yes. I mean, the patent doesn’t lay out with
`any clarity where exactly you draw a box around what is the sync engine
`versus what is not the sync engine. The sync engine is some piece of
`software on the client side that is among other things capable of
`communicating difference information that it has generated by comparing a
`previous state of the data to the current state of the data. That’s exactly what
`the -- is taught back on Slide 12 or 13 the -- with the modified request. The
`idea would be that just as is done from repository to client, the client would
`save a prior copy of the data, as is taught in the second sentence there,
`generating diff between the old and the new and communicate that
`difference. Those are the elements of the sync engine.
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`JUDGE JEFFERESON: And so that -- when invoking this modified
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`request that means in the information showing Slide 12, which I believe uses
`the 757 description, but System A is called System A, the client, I guess, 300
`there is the server or some device (in between.
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`MR. KRINSKY: Yeah. The data store. The claim language.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Each of these data -- each of these locations
`will contain the original document, the original file as described as the
`original version that is being maintained; is that the argument? That if I
`send the difference information and only the difference information that the
`recipient would then know where to start.
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`MR. KRINSKY: That’s right. The presence of the prior state of the
`data is described as already being present on the repository and already
`being present on System B. That’s how changes are already sent from the
`repository to the second client through this RCS diff message that I
`described. The change would be, as is described in this paragraph, keeping a
`local copy of the data when you intend to edit the file by using the CVS edit
`command you could just, you know, copy the file. It’s not a difficult
`operation. And then use that to generate a CVS diff, the difference
`information, and the instruction for how to apply it, and ship that up to the
`repository instead of shipping up the whole file. And again, since the two
`CVS client’s and the CVS server are literally the same software package, as
`is described here, that functionality is already there. It’s a matter of tying it
`together in a slightly different way. I would like to use my remaining time
`before I -- so I can reserve some for rebuttal to address briefly the Nickels
`ground.
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`Nickels is a reference that we --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: As I mentioned before, I would like to hear what
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`you have to say on whether CVS was publicly accessible. I mean, you can
`use that time however you want but I think that it’s something that is of
`interest to me at least.
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`MR. KRINSKY: Certainly, Your Honor and I didn’t mean to move
`on prematurely. If you take a look at Slide 17, I think that lays out in
`summary form the evidence that we’ve brought to bare on this. CVS was a
`system that our expert Dr. Bestavros had personal knowledge of. He went
`to, sort of, verify that this particular version that we were submitting was
`available at the correct times, consulted both the Wayback machine and the
`dates therein for --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: Now, the Wayback machine only shows that
`there was a directory that had the version name on it, correct? The actual
`documents that you relied on, they were not achieved; is that correct?
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`MR. KRINSKY: I don’t believe that’s correct, Your Honor. Dr.
`Bestavros used the Wayback machine, and that directory entry that Your
`Honor is referring to to date when this package was built, and when this
`package was publicly available on the Cyclic website, but this is the --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: But he obtained -- you’re arguing that he
`obtained this software from the Wayback machine?
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`MR. KRINSKY: Your Honor, I don’t remember off hand exactly
`where the tarball was downloaded from, but it is available as a discernible
`particular version number, the date of which he authenticated using the
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`Wayback machine as well as its own internal date information. All of which
`is consistent and all of which is undisputed. So I --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: Do you have any evidence of how this
`information would have been found on the internet assuming that it was in
`fact on the page achieved by the Wayback machine? Is there any evidence
`of indexing or how a skilled artisan would’ve found first the tarball and the
`documents within it?
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`MR. KRINSKY: So I don’t know that that’s an issue that has been
`particularly briefed among the parties. I don’t think that’s an issue
`Synchronoss has raised, but Dr. Bestavros opined that this was a well-known
`package that would’ve been available through all the usual internet search
`engines and that, as I said, that was widely used in software development
`that he personally had been using. He wasn’t affiliated in any way with
`Cyclic software, he was, for these purposes, a random member of the public
`and a person of ordinary skill in the art he found it and used it. So I think
`that answers Your Honors question, I hope.
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`JUDGE MCKONE: So we would have to rely on your expert’s
`memory on this?
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`MR. KRINSKY: Well, he has personal knowledge of it that’s not
`disputed. I mean, it’s his testimony as well as the various documents that he
`cite, that all consistently point in one direction. So it’s not just some
`uncorroborated memory of his. It is, you know, several exhibits in the
`record combined with his uncontested testimony. He’s not just trying to
`remember the date. That’s why he went back to these other sources and also
`analyzed the tarball itself to look at the dates within it. All of which point to
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`public availability in 1999. So unless there are other questions on CVS, let
`me just very briefly address --
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Well, on the --
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`MR. KRINSKY: Oh, sure.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: -- Looking at CVS. How do you address the
`argument that the diff command is only a command that compares the
`modified version of the client and that there is no local comparison approach
`that meet the limitations of having a sync engine at each individual location?
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`MR. KRINSKY: So I think the best evidence that that is incorrect is
`the RCS diff protocol message that is described on Slide 11. It’s Exhibit
`1004 at 23. The CVS diff command as a command that a user can type, can
`just spit out the differences for human -- a human to read, but that same
`exact functionality which is described here that it says, “The changed text is
`produced by diff minus n.” That’s referring to a CVS diff argument. So the
`CVS diff command and functionality for how to apply the changes that it
`generates is already what’s used to communicate from a repository to a
`client. All we’re talking about is using it also in the other direction.
`
`Just very very briefly on Nichols, I know that’s an issue that the Board
`has already addressed in its prior ruling and that we previously had a oral
`argument about, but I think it’s important to emphasize here the response by
`Synchronoss is largely a procedural one that somehow we didn’t raise as an
`obviousness argument. Our position was and is that Nichols anticipates, as
`Your Honor knows. The Board has disagreed with that, but in its final
`written decision, it took -- it held that our arguments were obviousness
`arguments rather than anticipation arguments.
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`We were talking about what the person of ordinary skill in the art would’ve
`understood what the reference teaches but does not have within the four
`corners of the reference spelled out in sufficient language. And given that,
`the notion that we haven’t made this argument is simply wrong. It’s sort of
`a heads we win, tails you lose type argument by Synchronoss. This either
`sounds in anticipation or in obviousness, and if it doesn’t sound in
`anticipation, it sounds in obviousness, and for all the reasons we’ve
`previously argued, and that we addressed further in our reply, Nichols as a
`single reference obviousness teaching renders obvious all of the challenged
`claims. So unless there are questions on that, I’ll reserve the remainder of
`my time for rebuttal.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Is it the copy of the previous state of the data
`that Nichols --
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`MR. KRINSKY: Yeah. So the --
`
`JUDGE JEFFERSON: -- Nichols closed it down by saying it that
`express but here you’re saying well, at least it sounds in obviousness. What
`part of that testimony supports that conclusion? Is it more than just saying,
`“Well, if it’s not there expressly it must be there obviously -- out of
`obviousness”?
`
`MR. KRINSKY: Well, so the one, you know, assertedly missing
`limitation last time is that we don’t really disagree that it’s missing, but the
`limitation that was the subject of the argument last time was the use of a
`prior copy of the data in order to perform a comparison and communicate
`the difference information. And if you take a look at Slide 11, you know,
`the argumentation hinged on -- excuse me, Slide 7. I think I may have
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`misspoken. The argument hinged on this replace message that was used by
`TextEdit widgets. The replace message, Dr. Bestavros explained how in
`order to generate this, you would need to have and would have the obvious
`way to do this would have been to compare to a prior state of the data. The
`replace message itself, at Page 114 of the Nichols reference, is described as a
`message that says, “Replace this region of text with this value.” It’s
`expressly referring to the prior version when it says, “This region of text.”
`And it says, “Take this region of text from the previous version and update it
`with a particular value.” This is the one and only message, by the way, that
`is used by TextEdit widgets in order to communicate information. This
`notion that they somehow aggregate all of the users key strokes or send, you
`know, messages in other forms is just wrong according to the undisputed
`record and the teachings of Nichols, particularly it’s Table 3.
`
`So I think that answers Your Honors question. The issue was just
`what do you call that? You know, the testimony from -- which is on Slide 8.
`This is from Paragraph 16 of Dr. Bestavros’ reply declaration, talked about
`what Nichols teaches and what the person of ordinary skill in the art would
`understand and the Board held that those were obviousness arguments rather
`than anticipation arguments. So now that we’re back here and you’re -- the
`Board has an obviousness ground in front of it, we would submit the claim
`should be cancelled for that reason, if not for anticipation.
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`JUDGE JEFFERSON: Thank you.
`
`MR. KRINSKY: Thank you.
`
`JUDGE MCKONE: But I think as far as it being an obviousness
`argument, we were also looking at that as you were not willing to commit to
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`this feature being inherent. So I think that’s part of the concern here is that
`we have an expert that testified that a skilled artisan would’ve understood it
`this way, but not that the reference itself explicitly discloses this. So how is
`this -- how would you cast this as an obviousness argument now?
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`MR. KRINSKY: Well, I mean it --
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`JUDGE MCKONE: As far as what is missing from the prior art that
`would have been modified or changed based on the knowledge of a skilled
`artisan.
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`MR. KRINSKY: So, with respect, Your Honor, we don’t think
`anything is missing. That was the gravamen of our anticipation argument,
`but if it doesn’t quite meet the standards for inherency then at the very least
`comparing the prior state of the data to the current state of the data to
`keeping them both around is, you know, the only way that Dr. Bestavros
`could come up with and certainly it’s an obvious way to go about generating
`these differences. So I think it’s a -- I don’t see it as a traditional
`obviousness argument that requires a modification to a reference. This is a -
`- and that’s by the way why the Synchronoss’ citations to the that line of
`cases is off base. This is talking about how the person of ordinary skill in
`the art would either understand the system described by Nichols to function
`or if they were seeking to just replicate what Nichols describes how they
`would go about doing it. And the obvious way, as it were, to generate a
`message that refers to a prior state of the data and says replace part of it with
`some new value is by comparing the old and the new.
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`JUDGE MCKONE: So your expert is not testifying that one would
`have modified or changed Nichols? Your expert is testifying that Nichols
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`would have been understood this way and essentially, expressly discloses
`this limitation?
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`MR. KRINSKY: I mean, our expert is testifying this is what he and
`the person of ordinary skill in the art understand Nichols already to do. So I
`don’t know what modification would be necessary. To the extent that isn’t
`there, to the extent the Board concludes there isn’t an express teaching to do
`that. He is saying a person of ordinary skill in the art would do that.
`
`JUDGE MCKONE: Where is the second part? It could be -- it may
`be the case then your expert testified only as anticipation and that our
`mentioning of obviousness was our misunderstanding his testimony. So I
`want to make sure I understand what you think his testimony was.
`
`MR. KRINSKY: So his testimony was that because this replace
`message refers expressly to a prior region of text. It says, “Replace this
`region of text.” That can only be the region of text in the old data. “Replace
`it with this value,” he’s saying the person of ordinary skill in the art would
`understand that if all changes to a TextEdit widget are communicated using
`this replace message, the way to do that, and the way Nichols does do that is
`by keeping around a prior state of the data and using some sort of
`comparison to get from the old to the new and generate difference
`information. And the other side’s expert never addresses that head on. Dr.
`Keller talked about other types of widgets such as the numeric widget, which
`don’t do this, and also talked about how you would -- you know, you could
`aggregate key strokes and send, you know, only the key strokes that are
`necessary to update the widget. That isn’t a replace message. That’s not
`w