DROPBOX EX. 1024
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`DROPBOX EX. 1024
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`DROPBOX EX. 1024
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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`__________________
`
`DROPBOX, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
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`SYNCHRONOSS TECHNOLOGIES, INC.,
`Patent Owner
`__________________
`
`INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 6,671,757
`__________________
`
`SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF AZER BESTAVROS, PH.D.
`CONCERNING EXHIBITS 1003, 1006, AND 1007
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`Dropbox Ex. 1024
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`I, Azer Bestavros, hereby declare and state the following:
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`1.
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`In the Declaration I provided on April 7, 2016, I relied on (among
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`other references) Exhibits 1003 (“Nichols”), 1006 (“Kistler”), and 1007 (“Burns”).
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`I understand that Patent Owner Synchronoss Technologies, Inc., has challenged
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`whether those references are prior art printed publications, and I have been asked
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`to provide additional information and opinions regarding those references to
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`address the questions Synchronoss has raised.
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`2.
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`I have been informed by counsel that a reference qualifies as a printed
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`publication if it is sufficiently accessible to the public interested in the art. A
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`paradigmatic example of a document that is sufficiently accessible is a book, or an
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`article in a journal, copies of which are sold or otherwise distributed to members of
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`the public and at least one of which is placed in a library, where it is cataloged for
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`patrons of the library to find and available to read. I have further been informed,
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`however, that distribution and indexing along these lines is not necessarily required
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`for a reference to be considered “sufficiently accessible” and thus to be considered
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`a printed publication. For example, a presentation delivered at a public conference,
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`and disseminated without restriction to conference participants, may also qualify as
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`a printed publication, even without evidence that the publication was ultimately
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`indexed and placed in a library, if the conference is publicized sufficiently in the
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`field that the presentation would have been reasonably accessible to the person of
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`ordinary skill in the art.
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`3.
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`In my opinion, each of Nichols, Kistler, and Burns is a printed
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`publication. In addition, each of these references was published, and was generally
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`accessible to the public, before January 26, 2000.
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`I.
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`Kistler
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`4.
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`Kistler was published in the February 1992 issue of ACM
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`Transactions on Computer Systems, a journal published by the Association of
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`Computing Machinery (the “ACM”). The ACM is the premier international
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`academic society in the field of computer science, and it publishes a variety of
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`journals that are widely known to computer scientists and were well known prior to
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`2000. I have been a member of the ACM since 1986 and a senior member of the
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`ACM for more than a decade. I have been personally familiar with ACM
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`Transactions on Computer Systems since I was in graduate school in the mid-
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`1980s. I also have served as a reviewer for papers published in ACM Transactions
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`on Computer Systems. In addition, I have published in several of the other similar
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`journals that ACM publishes in other sub-fields, including ACM Transactions on
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`Networking and ACM Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, as
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`indicated in my CV, Exhibit 1025.
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`5.
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`ACM Transactions on Computer Systems is a so-called “archival
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`journal,” i.e., a publication that is intended to present peer-reviewed research to the
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`relevant academic public in a form to which other academics can refer and cite. As
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`ACM’s website notes, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems “presents research
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`and development results on the design, specification, realization, behavior, and use
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`of computer systems” and “emphasizes” “[i]nsights useful to system designers,
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`builders, and users.” Ex. 1026, available at
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`http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=J774. I am personally familiar with ACM
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`Transactions on Computer Systems, was familiar with that journal prior to 2000,
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`and I believe the person of ordinary skill in the art (“POSA”) would have been
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`familiar with, and certainly would have had access to, ACM Transactions on
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`Computer Systems.
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`6. While ACM now makes its journals, including ACM Transactions on
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`Computer Systems, available online, the journal has been distributed in paper form
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`since its inception in 1983. See Ex. 1026 [ACM TOCS website, cited above]
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`(describing “Volume 1 Issue 1” in Feb. 1983). Academic libraries relating to
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`computer science routinely subscribe to it, and articles in the journal are readily
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`available to the interested public (and were readily available as of January 2000).
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`7.
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`For example, Exhibit 1027 is a date-stamped copy of Kistler from the
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`University of Minnesota Library, indicating that it was received by the library on
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`March 17, 1992. Exhibit 1028 is a letter from Philip Herold, the Interim Director
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`for Physical Sciences and Engineering Libraries at the University of Minnesota.
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`Mr. Herold’s letter confirms that the issue of ACM Transactions on Computer
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`Systems containing Kistler was received by the University of Minnesota library
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`system on March 17, 1992. The February 1992 issue of ACM Transactions on
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`Computer Systems, containing the Kistler reference, therefore was distributed to
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`libraries, and would have been available to the public, long before the priority date.
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`A POSA exercising reasonable diligence would have been able to contact a
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`computer science libraries to find one with a copy of the Kistler reference and then
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`visit the library to view the print copy of the reference.
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`8.
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`Consistent with my understanding that Kistler was available to the
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`public before the priority date, I note that the article was cited in prosecution and is
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`listed on the face of U.S. Patent No. 5,919,247, which was filed July 24, 1996 and
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`issued on July 6, 1999. See Ex. 1029.
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`9.
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`These exhibits support my opinion that the Kistler reference was
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`publicly distributed, in the collections of university libraries, and indexed such that
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`the POSA would have been able to locate it, prior to the priority date. In my
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`opinion, it is thus a prior art printed publication.
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`II. Conference Proceedings – Nichols and Burns
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`10. Nichols and Burns were published in conference proceedings rather
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`than in journals. Before addressing the specifics of the publication of Nichols and
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`Burns, it is worth discussing the somewhat different role that conference
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`proceedings play in academic computer science compared to other disciplines.
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`11.
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`In addition to journals such as ACM Transactions on Computer
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`Systems, computer scientists have the option of publishing their results at academic
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`conferences. Research results presented at conferences are presented orally to the
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`conference attendees, and also written up in the form of an academic paper; the
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`papers presented at the conference are then distributed at or in conjunction with the
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`conference. Nowadays, conference papers frequently are distributed online. But
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`in the 1990s, conference proceedings typically took the form of printed paperback
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`books, referred to as conference proceedings.
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`12. Publishing in conference proceedings has several advantages over
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`publishing in journals; not only are research results published faster, but the ability
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`to present research at conferences affords an opportunity to receive questions and
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`feedback from one’s peers. Publishing in conference proceedings is—and before
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`2000 was—a standard way for academic papers in the field to be presented. These
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`issues are discussed in Exhibit 1030, an article entitled “Evaluating Computer
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`Scientists and Engineers for Promotion and Tenure,” published in Computing
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`Research News in September 1999, available at
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`http://archive.cra.org/reports/tenure_review.pdf, which describes the unusually
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`prominent role that conference proceedings play in the field of computer science
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`compared to other academic disciplines, where traditional journals predominate.
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`The observations in the article are consistent with my personal experience in the
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`field.
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`13. Computer scientists routinely attend conferences, and subsequently
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`refer to conference proceedings, in the course of their own work and to keep
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`abreast of developments in the field. Academic conferences in computer science
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`generally solicit submissions for publication many months before the conference
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`takes place. Papers are accepted for presentation at the conference and publication
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`in the conference proceedings before the conference, and a list of the papers to be
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`presented is made available to the academic community in advance of the
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`conference. Interested members of the public can then evaluate whether they are
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`interested in attending a conference based on the subject matter of the papers to be
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`presented. Registration for a conference typically requires payment of a fee, but is
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`not restricted—any interested member of the public, regardless of whether they
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`have an academic or industry affiliation, may attend.
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`14. Because conference proceedings play a role in the field of computer
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`science similar to the role of journals, the proceedings of many conferences are
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`distributed to and held in the collections of academic libraries. As will be
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`discussed below, both Nichols and Burns were published in conference
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`proceedings that would have been readily accessible to the POSA as of January
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`2000 and that are available—at least in electronic form—from academic libraries
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`to this day, including at my own institution, Boston University.
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`A. Nichols
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`15. The Nichols reference was published in the Proceedings of the ACM
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`Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (the “UIST Conference”).
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`The ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology is one of
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`several topical conferences sponsored by the ACM with which I am personally
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`familiar, and which would have been familiar to the POSA. I have also reviewed
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`Exhibit 1022, the declaration of Brad A. Myers, Ph.D., who was the General Chair
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`of the 1995 UIST Conference at which Nichols was presented.
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`16. My own understanding, and Dr. Myers’s testimony, are consistent
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`with the general description of academic computer science conferences I discussed
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`above. In particular, the 1995 UIST Conference was open to any interested
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`member of the public, the conference was attended by over 200 people, and the
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`conference proceedings (and thus the Nichols article) were distributed in paper
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`form to that audience at the conference. A POSA would have known about the
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`1995 UIST Conference, and could have attended. At the conference, the POSA
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`would have received a copy of the Nichols article in the conference proceedings
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`distributed to the attendees. Dr. Myers testifies that he obtained a copy of the
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`Nichols article in this way.
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`17. The Nichols article was also offered for sale to the general public,
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`including to libraries. Consistent with Dr. Myers’s testimony, the Nichols
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`publication is available, and was available before January 2000, in libraries.
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`18. Exhibit 1031 is a scan of the paper copy of excerpts of the 1995 UIST
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`Conference volume, containing the Nichols article, in the collection of the Boston
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`University library, including a magnified view of the table of contents. I note that
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`Exhibit 1031 is bound for archival in the library; the table of contents shows a
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`handwritten Library of Congress catalog number (QA 76.9 U83 A27 1995), and
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`the final page of the exhibit shows a pocket for a charge slip as well as a barcode,
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`indicating that the volume was indexed and available for circulation from the
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`library collection.
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`19. Exhibit 1032 is a second scan of excerpts of the 1995 UIST
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`Conference volume, containing the Nichols article, from the library of the
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`Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This copy bears a date stamp showing that
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`the volume was received by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library on
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`April 10, 1996.
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`20.
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`I note that the copyright page of the 1995 UIST Conference volume
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`states that the articles could be copied freely for personal or classroom use,
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`“provided that the copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial
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`advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page.” If
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`copying was desired for any other purpose, that was also permitted upon payment
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`of a “per-copy fee” “through the Copyright Clearance Center” at an indicated
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`address. Accordingly, Nichols also was redistributable by those who received it at
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`the conference or by any other interested members of the public.
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`21. These exhibits support my opinion that the Nichols reference was
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`publicly distributed, in the collections of university libraries, and indexed such that
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`the POSA would have been able to locate it readily, prior to the priority date. In
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`my opinion, it is thus a prior art printed publication.
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`B.
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`Burns
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`22. The Burns reference was published in 1997 in the Proceedings of the
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`Fifth Workshop on I/O in Parallel and Distributed Systems (“IOPADS 97”), a
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`conference sponsored by the ACM. As a smaller “workshop” conference, the
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`proceedings of IOPADS 97 are not held in libraries as a physical book as
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`frequently as an archival conference proceeding such as that of the 1995 UIST
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`Conference. However, such workshops are still publicized to the research
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`community, attended by interested members of the public, and accompanied by
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`paper conference proceedings that would have been available to the POSA.
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`23.
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`I have reviewed Exhibit 1023, the declaration of Thomas H. Cormen,
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`Ph.D., who was the Co-Chair of the IOPADS 97 workshop. Dr. Cormen testifies
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`consistently with what in my experience is a typical practice for workshop
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`conferences. As he testifies, the IOPADS 97 workshop was open to anyone in the
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`computer science community who wanted to register, and IOPADS 97 was
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`attended by nearly one hundred interested computer science professionals, each of
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`whom received a paper copy of the conference proceedings. Moreover, ACM-
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`sponsored conferences such as IOPADS 97 are publicized to ACM members to
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`encourage interested scholars to attend. The POSA would have known about the
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`IOPADS 97 workshop, would have been able to attend, and upon attending would
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`have received a copy of the paper. In fact, Dr. Cormen testifies to having obtained
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`a copy of the Burns reference at the conference.
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`24. Although the Burns publication bears a copyright notice, the POSA
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`would not have understood there to be any other restriction on the dissemination of
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`the Burns paper. Academic workshop conferences are not considered confidential,
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`and attendees are free to share information they learn at such conferences. Indeed,
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`Randal Burns, the lead author of the Burns reference, made the paper freely
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`available on his own website by 1998, as indicated at
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`https://web.archive.org/web/19980123194417/http:/www.cse.ucsc.edu/~randal/pub
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`s.html, and still makes it available to the public on the Internet at his current
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`institution, see http://hssl.cs.jhu.edu/papers/burns_iopads97.pdf. This is consistent
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`with my understanding of ACM’s copyright policies, which expressly permit
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`authors to post their papers for free downloading on their own websites. See
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`https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright-policy. Setting aside all of
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`the other ways in which the POSA could find and obtain the Burns reference, it
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`thus appears that it has been freely available from the author’s own website since
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`before the priority date.
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`25.
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`In addition, the Burns publication is available to the public in
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`electronic form (for a fee) from the ACM itself, see
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`http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=266220.
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`26.
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` For these reasons, it is my opinion that the Burns reference was
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`publicly distributed to the interested public, and would have been available to the
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`POSA, prior to the priority date. It is thus a prior art printed publication.
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`*
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`*
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`*
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`27.
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`I understand that this declaration will be filed as evidence in a
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`contested case before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent
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`and Trademark Office. I also understand that I may be subject to cross-
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`examination concerning this declaration, and I will appear for cross-examination, if
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`required of me, during the time allotted for cross-examination.
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`28.
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`I hereby declare that all of the statements made herein of my own
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`knowledge are true and that all statements made on information and belief are
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`believed to be true; and further that these statements were made with knowledge
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`that willful false statements and the like so made are punishable by fine or
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`imprisonment, or both, under Section 1001 of Title 18 of the United States Code.
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`Date: October 24, 2016
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`_____________________
`Dr. Azer Bestavros
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`Dropbox Ex. 1024
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