throbber

`
`
`
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`APPLE INC.
`Petitioner
`v.
`VOIP-PAL.COM, INC.
`Patent Owner
`
`
`
`Case No. IPR2016-01201
`Patent 8,542,815
`
`
`
`PETITIONER’S REQUEST FOR REHEARING
`PURSUANT TO 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d)
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1
`II. RESERVATION OF RIGHTS ....................................................................... 2
`III. APPLICABLE STANDARDS ..................................................................... 3
`IV. RELEVANT PROCEDURAL HISTORY .................................................. 3
`V. ARGUMENT ................................................................................................. 6
`a. The Board Misapprehended the Nature of the Proposed Combination of
`Prior Art References. .......................................................................................... 7
`b. The Board Misapprehended the Proposed Combination’s Application to
`the Step Ordering Required by the Challenged Claims. ................................. 9
`c. The Board Overlooked the Motivations to Combine the Prior Art
`References. ......................................................................................................... 14
`VI. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................ 17
`
`
`
`
`
`i
`
`

`

`I.
`
`INTRODUCTION
`
`Apple Inc. (“Petitioner”) hereby respectfully requests that the Patent Trial and
`
`Appeal Board (“Board”) reconsider its Final Written Decision (Paper 53) upholding
`
`the patentability of claims 1, 7, 27-28, 34, 54, 72-74, 92-93, and 111 of U.S. Patent
`
`No. 8,542,815 (Ex. 1001, “the ’815 Patent”).
`
`The Final Written Decision (“FWD”), issued by the Replacement Panel, rests
`
`on an erroneous understanding of the Proposed Combination that was advanced by
`
`Patent Owner in its Preliminary Response. The Institution Decision (“ID”), issued
`
`by the Original Panel, rejected the same arguments, noting that they were premised
`
`on Patent Owner’s mischaracterization of the Proposed Combinations. The Original
`
`Panel again rejected the very same arguments in response to Patent Owner’s Request
`
`for Rehearing of the ID and again noted that they were premised on Patent Owner’s
`
`mischaracterization of the Proposed Combinations. After being twice rejected,
`
`Patent Owner largely abandoned the mischaracterizations in its Response.
`
`The Replacement Panel, in the FWD, adopted Patent Owner’s pre-institution
`
`mischaracterization of the Proposed Combination, which had been twice-rejected by
`
`the Original Panel and largely abandoned by Patent Owner. In so doing, the
`
`Replacement Panel did not cite or otherwise discuss a single paper submitted by
`
`Petitioner post-institution correcting the Patent Owner’s mischaracterizations and
`
`supporting the actual Proposed Combination. Petitioner had specifically reiterated
`
`the nature and operation of the Proposed Combination in its Reply and again at the
`
`
`
`1
`
`

`

`oral argument. The Replacement Panel’s failure to even cite to Petitioner’s post-
`
`institution briefs is telling. Had the Replacement Panel considered the full record, it
`
`would not have misapprehended the Proposed Combinations and it would not have
`
`overlooked the ample record evidence supporting the instituted grounds.
`
`Accordingly, Petitioner respectfully requests that the Board reconsider the
`
`Final Written Decision in view of the actual Proposed Combinations and the totality
`
`of the record, including Petitioner’s arguments submitted post-institution.
`
`This request is timely filed by January 8, 2019—the deadline set forth in the
`
`Board’s Order, Granting-in-Part Petitioner’s Motion for Sanctions. Paper 70 at 16.
`
`II.
`
`RESERVATION OF RIGHTS
`
`By presenting the Request for Rehearing authorized by Paper 70, Petitioner
`
`does not concede, expressly or by implication, the correctness of the Board’s Order
`
`resolving Petitioner’s motion for sanctions. Patent Owner engaged in improper ex
`
`parte communications that created at least the appearance of impropriety and
`
`prejudiced Petitioner. Petitioner continues to maintain that, in addition to violating
`
`the Board’s rules, this improper conduct violated both the Administrative Procedure
`
`Act and the Due Process Clause. In the context of this proceeding, and given the
`
`undisputed timing and nature of the events, Patent Owner’s violations, individually
`
`or collectively, warrant a meaningful sanction to alleviate the prejudice to Petitioner.
`
`The rehearing request authorized by Paper 70 is at most a partial remedy for Patent
`
`Owner’s improper conduct.
`
`
`
`2
`
`

`

`III.
`
`APPLICABLE STANDARDS
`
`“A party dissatisfied with a decision may file a single request for rehearing.”
`
`37 C.F.R. §42.71(d). “The request must specifically identify all matters the party
`
`believes the Board misapprehended or overlooked, and the place where each matter
`
`was previously addressed in a motion, an opposition, or a reply.” Id. The Board
`
`reviews a decision for an abuse of discretion. 37 C.F.R. §42.71(c). “An abuse of
`
`discretion may arise if a decision is based on an erroneous interpretation of law, if a
`
`factual finding is not supported by substantial evidence, or if an unreasonable
`
`judgment is made in weighing relevant factors.” IPR2013-00298, Paper 24, at 2
`
`(Feb. 11, 2014) (citations omitted).
`
`IV.
`
`RELEVANT PROCEDURAL HISTORY
`
`Petitioner requested Inter Partes Review of claims 1, 7, 27-28, 34, 54, 72-74,
`
`92-93, and 111 of the ’815 Patent (“the Challenged Claims”) on two grounds (“the
`
`Proposed Combinations”), both of which rely on the same base reference—Chu
`
`’684—and similar secondary references—Chu ’366 and Chen (“the Secondary
`
`References”). Paper 1, Petition at 5, 12-20, 37-41. Each of the Proposed
`
`Combinations relies on Chu ’684 for its infrastructure, call classifying, and call
`
`routing teachings, and the Secondary References for their caller profile and dialed
`
`digit reformatting teachings. Id. The Proposed Combinations each propose that Chu
`
`’684 would benefit if its users could employ short form dialing—as is common for
`
`local PSTN calls on a standard landline (e.g., 555-1234)—rather than being required
`
`
`
`3
`
`

`

`to use full E.164-compliant numbers (e.g., +1-202-555-1234) as contemplated by
`
`Chu ’684. Id. The primary difference between the two Proposed Combinations is
`
`that Chen provided an earlier date.
`
`Patent Owner filed a Preliminary Response (“POPR”), arguing (1) that
`
`Petitioner’s motivations to combine are insufficient and (2) that the Proposed
`
`Combinations fail to properly account for the required ordering of certain limitations
`
`of the Challenged Claims. Paper 5, POPR at 18-21, 39-42, 48-49, 59-62. In its ID,
`
`the Original Panel rejected Patent Owner’s arguments, pointing out that Patent
`
`Owner had mischaracterized the Proposed Combinations and ignored the Petition’s
`
`reliance on the Secondary References for key teachings. Paper 6, ID at 19-24.
`
`Patent Owner then filed a Request for Rehearing, again challenging the
`
`adequacy of the Petitioner’s motivations to combine and the ordering issue. Paper 9,
`
`Request for Rehearing at 2-3. The Original Panel once again rejected these
`
`arguments, and again pointed out that Patent Owner had mischaracterized the
`
`Proposed Combinations. Paper 11, Decision Denying Request for Rehearing at 3-6.
`
`Patent Owner next filed its Response, which attempted to swear behind both
`
`Chu ’366 and Chen, alleging that the Challenged Claims were actually reduced to
`
`practice 17 months before filing. Paper 17, Response at 4-38. On the substance,
`
`Patent Owner abandoned the mischaracterization of the Proposed Combinations it
`
`had unsuccessfully advanced twice before. Instead, the Patent Owner introduced a
`
`new theory that Chu ’684 allegedly did not contemplate E.164 dialing at all, and
`
`
`
`4
`
`

`

`instead requires that users “dial private numbers to place a call to the PBX private
`
`network, or a PSTN access code (e.g., a prefix of ‘9’) followed by a PSTN number
`
`based on local dialing conventions to call the PSTN.” Paper 17, Response at 46-57,
`
`64-66. Patent Owner also advanced a new ordering theory, wholly different from its
`
`original ordering argument, suggesting that the caller-specific profiles taught by the
`
`Secondary References cannot (or would not) be incorporated into Chu ’684’s
`
`infrastructure. Id. at 59-64.
`
`Because Patent Owner had consistently mischaracterized the Proposed
`
`Combinations in its early papers, Petitioner’s Reply reiterated the nature of the
`
`Proposed Combinations set forth in the Petition and explained the ordering of the
`
`combination. Paper 34, Reply at 15-16. Petitioner also addressed Patent Owner’s
`
`new arguments. Id. at 16-24. And, finally, the Reply addressed Patent Owner’s
`
`swear behind attempt. Id. at 1-15.
`
`On June 7, 2017, the parties participated in a conference call with the Board
`
`to discuss Patent Owner’s request for a sur-reply. Unbeknownst to Petitioner, the
`
`Original Panel had been removed and new judges—Administrative Patent Judges
`
`Josiah Cocks, Jennifer Meyer Chagnon, and John Hudalla (“Replacement Panel”)—
`
`were appointed. This call was the first time Petitioner learned of the Replacement
`
`Panel. Paper 37. There was no discussion or explanation for why the Replacement
`
`Panel was appearing.
`
`On November 20, 2017, the Replacement Panel issued its Final Written
`
`
`
`5
`
`

`

`Decision (“FWD”). See generally Paper 53, FWD. The two issues on which the
`
`Replacement Panel found in favor of Patent Owner were (1) the original “ordering”
`
`argument premised on the Patent Owner’s pre-Institution mischaracterizations of
`
`the Proposed Combinations and (2) an alleged inadequate motivation to make the
`
`mischaracterized Proposed Combinations. Id. at 18-24.
`
`Petitioner subsequently moved for sanctions against Patent Owner after it
`
`discovered that Patent Owner had engaged in an ex parte letter-writing campaign
`
`with the Board and other officials. Paper 55.
`
`On August 22, 2018, the Board issued an order assigning three new judges—
`
`Deputy Chief Administrative Patent Judge Scott R. Boalick, Vice Chief
`
`Administrative Patent Judge Jacqueline Wright Bonilla, and Vice Chief
`
`Administrative Patent Judge Michael P. Tierney (“Third Panel”)—to this matter.
`
`Paper 69. On December 21, 2018, the Third Panel found that Patent Owner engaged
`
`in sanctionable conduct and granted-in-part Petitioner’s motion for sanctions. As a
`
`remedy, the Board permitted Petitioner to file this rehearing request. Paper 70.
`
`V.
`
`ARGUMENT
`
`In the FWD, the Replacement Panel concluded that the Proposed
`
`Combinations did not disclose the ordering of steps required by the Challenged
`
`Claims, and that Petitioner had not met its burden to show a motivation to combine
`
`the Proposed Combinations.
`
`In
`
`reaching
`
`these conclusions,
`
`the Panel
`
`misapprehended the nature of the Proposed Combinations and failed to address
`
`
`
`6
`
`

`

`Petitioner’s Reply arguments.
`
`a.
`
`The Board Misapprehended the Nature of the Proposed
`Combination of Prior Art References.
`The Replacement Panel did not understand the Proposed Combinations.
`
`Because the Patent Owner had twice attempted to mischaracterize the Proposed
`
`Combination, Petitioner began its Reply (the first opportunity it had to address
`
`Patent Owner’s mischaracterization attempts) by explaining
`
`the Proposed
`
`Combinations in a step-wise fashion:
`
`1) First, a caller’s profile is accessed, which includes caller attributes
`(e.g., IDD, NDD, area code, etc.). The Secondary References teach
`accessing a caller profile. See, e.g., Paper 1, Petition at 22-23
`(describing use of calling attributes from Secondary References); see
`also, Ex. 2043, Houh Trans. at 18:5-22:24 (explaining that the Chu
`‘366 “call origin profile” includes calling attributes and that Chu ‘684
`includes the user-specific infrastructure to support accessing the user-
`specific profile from Chu ‘366); 33:24-35:3 (same explanation
`regarding Chen).
`2) Next, dialed digits are received by the caller pursuant to standard
`public dialing conventions, e.g., 123-4567 for a local call. The number
`reformatting taught by the Secondary References is performed, which
`results in an E.164-compliant callee identifier, e.g., 1-202-123-4567.
`See, e.g., Paper 1, Petition at 22-23.
`3) Finally, Chu ‘684 uses the reformatted E.164 number to determine
`whether the callee is on the private IP network or the public PSTN and
`generates routing messages accordingly. See, e.g., id. at 23-24.
`
`
`
`7
`
`

`

`Paper 34, Reply at 15-16. As explained in the Petition, the Proposed Combinations
`
`recognized that Chu ’684 required a user to dial a complete (long form) E.164
`
`compatible number in order to reach a destination phone as was typical of such VoIP
`
`systems. Paper 1, Petition at 17. By combining the Chu ’684 system with the
`
`Secondary References’ short form dialing and reformatting teachings, a customer
`
`would be able to enjoy the benefit of familiar short form dialing and the Chu ’684
`
`system could continue to receive and process long form E.164 compatible numbers
`
`as per its normal disclosed operation. See Paper 34, Reply at 21-23 (establishing that
`
`Chu ’684 processes E.164 compatible numbers to route calls). Put simply, the
`
`Secondary References provide for short form dialing to be reformatted into E.164
`
`numbers that Chu ’684 may then process to route a call. The Replacement Panel did
`
`not discuss these (or any other) portions of the Reply.
`
`Multiple statements in the FWD suggest that the Replacement Panel did not
`
`apprehend the Proposed Combinations. For example, the Replacement Panel stated:
`
`Petitioner seems to advocate that Chu ’684, itself, contemplates a
`“reformatted” callee identifier when determining the public or
`private network affiliation of a call. [ ]
`[I]f Chu ’684’s dialed digits are reformatted prior to determining the
`local or non-local (i.e., PSTN) nature of a call, then it stands to reason
`that they no longer constitute the dialed digits. Petitioner has not
`explained adequately why or how Chu ’684’s step of assessing the
`dialed digits is applicable to a number that has been reformatted
`into a number that is no longer the dialed digits.
`
`
`
`8
`
`

`

`Paper 53, FWD at 22-23 (emphasis added). Petitioner never suggested that Chu ’684,
`
`itself, contemplates a “reformatted” callee identifier. Chu ’684 contemplates
`
`receiving long form E.164 compatible numbers. The Secondary References
`
`contemplate receiving short form numbers and reformatting them to E.164
`
`compatible numbers. Thus, in the Proposed Combinations, short form dialing may
`
`be used and, after the reformatting contemplated by the Secondary References, Chu
`
`’684 receives the same long form E.164 compatible numbers it expressly
`
`contemplates.
`
`In a similar misapprehension, the Replacement Panel criticizes Petitioner for
`
`failing to explain how Chu ’684 can process a reformatted number. There was no
`
`such failure. In the Proposed Combination, the reformatted number supplied to Chu
`
`’684 is in the same E.164 compatible format that Chu ’684 expressly contemplates
`
`using. The Replacement Panel should not have required an explanation for why or
`
`how Chu ’684 would process the same format of dialed digits its disclosure expressly
`
`contemplates using. Had the Replacement Panel considered, at a minimum, the
`
`Reply’s reiterated explanation of the Proposed Combinations, the Replacement
`
`Panel would have analyzed the actual operation of the Proposed Combinations.
`
`b.
`
`The Board Misapprehended the Proposed Combination’s
`Application to the Step Ordering Required by the
`Challenged Claims.
`The Replacement Panel’s misapprehension of the Proposed Combination and
`
`apparent disregard of the Reply’s step-wise explanation of the Proposed
`
`
`
`9
`
`

`

`Combinations led to incorrect conclusions. Specifically, the Replacement Panel
`
`incorrectly concluded that the Proposed Combinations failed to account for the “step
`
`ordering that is required by the claims of the ’815 patent.” Paper 53, FWD at 23-24.
`
`The Replacement Panel found that Petitioner relied on step 610 from Chu ’684 to
`
`teach the caller dialing profile limitation and step 608 from Chu ’684 to teach the
`
`limitation directed to evaluating caller attributes to produce public or private routing
`
`messages. Id. at 23-24. With this misunderstanding of the Proposed Combination,
`
`the Replacement Panel made the following finding:
`
`That Petitioner relies on Chu ’684’s “step 610” for “locating a caller
`dialing profile,” and then relies on Chu ’684’s prior “step 608” for the
`subsequent steps of “determining a match” and “classifying the call” is
`at odds, or is inconsistent, with the step ordering that is required by the
`claims of the ’815 patent.
`
`Id. at 24 (emphasis in original).
`
`This precise argument was presented by Patent Owner twice—in its
`
`Preliminary Response (Paper 5 at 18-21) and in its Request for Rehearing (Paper 9
`
`at 3-7). In both instances, the Original Panel correctly rejected the argument as being
`
`premised on a mischaracterization of the Proposed Combination set forth in the
`
`Petition. See Paper 6, ID at 22-23 (noting “Petitioner does not rely exclusively on
`
`Chu ’684 for teaching the [pertinent limitations]” and criticizing Patent Owner for
`
`“address[ing] Chu ’684 and Chu ’366 individually, and does not consider the
`
`combined teachings of the references”); Paper 11 at 3-5 (rejecting Patent Owner’s
`
`
`
`10
`
`

`

`argument “that the Board overlooked the argument that Petitioner’s obviousness
`
`analysis fails to account for performing the ‘locating’ step before the ‘producing’
`
`steps,” noting that “Patent Owner’s attempt to distinguish the single reference
`
`Chu ’684 did not address Petitioner’s showing that the combination teaches the
`
`claimed steps,” and pointing out that “Petitioner[] reli[es] on both Chu ’684 and
`
`Chu ’366 for teaching the locating step, including Petitioner’s reliance on Chu
`
`’366 for teaching call original profiles”) (emphasis added).
`
`As recognized by the Original Panel and as described in the preceding section,
`
`the Proposed Combinations do not rely on step 610 of Chu ’684 alone for the caller
`
`profile limitation. Instead, the Secondary References provide the caller profile
`
`comprising caller attributes that is then used to reformat dialed digits (callee
`
`identifier) before the callee identifier is used in classification step 608 (to determine
`
`whether public or private) and before routing step 610 to produce either a public or
`
`private routing message. Petitioner explained this clearly in the above-referenced
`
`step-wise description and further explained that:
`
`Petitioner’s two proposed obviousness combinations . . . rely on Chu
`‘684 as a base reference for its infrastructure, call classifying, and call
`routing disclosures . . . [and] rely on their respective secondary
`references . . . for their caller profile and dialed digit reformatting
`disclosures.
`
`Paper 34, Reply at 15 (emphasis added). Petitioner’s Reply similarly explained that
`
`the Secondary References provide the user-specific caller profiles and that the
`
`
`
`11
`
`

`

`citations to Chu ’684 for the “locating” limitation establish that Chu ’684 includes
`
`the infrastructure necessary to make use of the Secondary Reference caller profiles
`
`and number reformatting, not that Chu ’684 itself is relied upon for locating a caller
`
`profile:
`
`[T]he combinations rely on the user-specific profiles taught by the
`Secondary References. Indeed, this is the principle purpose of making
`the combination in the first place. As Petitioner’s expert explained, Chu
`‘684 discloses the infrastructure required to locate a caller-specific
`dialing profile like those in the Secondary References. Namely, the
`servers in Chu ‘684 necessarily maintain user-specific information in
`order to effectively route calls. Accordingly, they are fully equipped to
`perform caller-specific lookups as contemplated by the combination.
`See Ex. 2043, Houh Trans. at 19:22-22:24.
`
`Id. at 23-24 (emphasis added).
`
`The Replacement Panel’s conclusions are premised on a mapping that is not
`
`consistent with the Proposed Combinations set forth in the Petition and further
`
`explained in the Reply. Further illustrating the Replacement Panel’s failure to
`
`apprehend the full record, not even Patent Owner continued to pursue the
`
`mischaracterization of Petitioner’s Proposed Combinations beyond its Pre-
`
`Institution papers. For example, Patent Owner’s Response acknowledges that
`
`Petitioner relies on the Secondary References for their dialed digit reformatting that
`
`takes place before Chu ’684’s classification step 608:
`
`Petitioner proposes modifying Chu ‘684 by inserting the public
`
`
`
`12
`
`

`

`number reformatting method of Chu ‘366 or Chen before the
`classification step 608 in Chu ’684[.]
`
`Paper 17, Response at 50 (emphasis added). Patent Owner’s Response recognized
`
`that the Proposed Combinations rely on caller profiles from the Secondary
`
`References and instead argued that the Petition included inadequate support:
`
`Chu ‘684 discloses that an enterprise “dial plan” is shared by a group
`of users. Chu ‘366 discloses user-specific “call origin location profiles”
`and Chen discloses a user’s fixed dial plan. [] Ex. 2016 at ¶ 57. The
`record is silent as to how to combine caller-specific individualized
`profiles with an enterprise’s IP-PBX network-specific “dial plan.”
`
`Id. at 63-64. Nonetheless, the Replacement Panel did not appreciate that the Patent
`
`Owner had moved away from its Pre-Institution attempts to mischaracterize the
`
`Proposed Combination. The Replacement Panel appears to have reverted to pre-
`
`Institution arguments, twice rejected by the Original Panel, abandoned by the Patent
`
`Owner, and fully addressed in Petitioner’s Reply.
`
`In sum, by failing to consider the full record and accepting the flawed ordering
`
`argument from Patent Owner’s pre-Institution papers, the Replacement Panel
`
`misapprehended and overlooked the actual Proposed Combinations at issue in this
`
`proceeding. The Replacement Panel’s error is particularly egregious in light of (1)
`
`the Original Panel having twice rejected the same argument, (2) Petitioner having
`
`repeatedly explained the nature of its Proposed Combinations, and (3) Patent Owner
`
`having abandoned the argument in its Response.
`
`
`
`13
`
`

`

`c.
`
`The Board Overlooked the Motivations to Combine the Prior
`Art References.
`With a proper understanding of the Proposed Combinations, the motivations
`
`to combine are straightforward—the benefit gained is to allow customers to dial
`
`using the short form numbers (PSTN) they are used to using (using the reformatting
`
`of the Secondary References) while employing IP call processing systems that rely
`
`on E.164 compatible dialing (like Chu ’684). Here, the Replacement Panel
`
`concluded that “Petitioner’s reasons for combining the teachings of Chu ’684 and
`
`Chu ’366 [were] conclusory and insufficient to carry the burden of demonstrating
`
`unpatentability by a preponderance of the evidence.” Paper 53, FWD at 21. In
`
`reaching this conclusion, however, the Replacement Panel accepted Patent Owner’s
`
`representation that the full extent of Petitioner’s motivations to combine are
`
`described in two paragraphs of the Petition and the expert declaration paragraphs
`
`cited therein. Compare Paper 53, FWD at 18-21 (analyzing only these portions of
`
`the record) with Paper 5, POPR at 39-42 (characterizing Petitioner’s motivation to
`
`combine as being entirely contained within these same portions of the record).
`
`The Replacement Panel entirely overlooked the explanation of the motivation
`
`to combine provided in the Petition. The Petition explains that Chu ’684 teaches a
`
`“telecommunications system[] in which a VoIP subscriber can place a call to either
`
`another VoIP subscriber on a private packet-based network or to a customer on the
`
`public PSTN.” Paper 1, Petition at 12. The Petition then explains why it would have
`
`been beneficial to combine the Chu ’684 VoIP system with the dialed digit
`
`
`
`14
`
`

`

`reformatting described in Chu ’366 based on the express disclosure of Chu ’366:
`
`Chu ’366 explains why such comparison and reformatting is necessary
`in a VoIP system. Namely, “E.164 [ ] provides a uniform means for
`identifying any telephone number in the world to any telephony user in
`the world. . . . When making telephone calls via a traditional PSTN,
`a subscriber is able to enter abbreviated numbers for local and
`national telephone calls. For example, for a local call in the United
`States, a user may simply enter the seven digit telephone number
`without an E.164 prefix, the country code or the area code. Local
`and national calls are possible with PSTN systems because the fixed-
`line phones from which such calls are made are hardwired directly to
`the local PSTN center. By contrast, there is no such concept of local,
`long distance or national calls when making a call via Internet
`telephony. VoIP calls use the Internet, which is world-wide and not
`tied to any single location.” Ex. 1003, Chu ’366 at 1:18-47. By using
`caller attributes to reformat dialed digits into an E.164 compatible
`number, “a user is able to enter telephone numbers for VoIP
`telephone calls as they would according to a traditional telephone
`numbering plan for land-line telephone calls.” Id. at 2:1-4. In other
`words, both Chu ’366 and the ’815 Patent allow VoIP customers to
`enter dialed digits as if they were calling from a standard PSTN
`telephone, and the system then reformats the number using
`attributes of the caller (e.g., national and area codes).
`
`Id. at 17 (emphasis added); see also id. at 39 (same for Chen combination).
`
`This benefit of allowing customers to use standard dialing formats that are
`
`then reformatted into E.164 compatible numbers is the motivation to make the
`
`
`
`15
`
`

`

`Proposed Combination. The motivation is expressly provided by the Secondary
`
`References themselves. This discussion appears to have been ignored by the
`
`Replacement Panel. In fact, the Final Written Decision does not discuss the
`
`motivations provided by the Secondary References at all. At the Oral Hearing,
`
`Petitioner stressed again that the Secondary references themselves provided a
`
`motivation to combine the prior art:
`
`Patent Owner has argued that we failed to provide any particularized
`reasoning for the motivation to combine. Let's start with the secondary
`references themselves. They provide some of the best explanation
`for a motivation to combine here.
`
`Paper 52, Hearing Trans. at 21:17-21 (emphasis added). An extensive discussion of
`
`the motivations to combine, including the motivations provided by the Secondary
`
`References, was also provided in Petitioner’s Opposition to Patent Owner’s Motion
`
`to Exclude. Paper 44, Opposition to Mtn. to Exclude at 7-11. This Opposition further
`
`rebutted many of the critiques advanced in the FWD, but it was not cited or even
`
`acknowledged by the Replacement Panel.
`
`At no point in the Replacement Panel’s discussion of the motivations to
`
`combine is there any recognition of these key motivations proposed in the Petition.
`
`Namely, by ignoring the substantive discussion of the Proposed Combinations and
`
`focusing only on the conclusion paragraphs, the Replacement Panel appears to have
`
`entirely overlooked that the Petition proposed modifying Chu ’684 such that short
`
`form dialing (e.g., 555-1234) could be supported as if callers were using a standard
`
`
`
`16
`
`

`

`PSTN phone. This is the “intuitive” and “user-friendly” modification of Chu ’684
`
`that is the focus of the Proposed Combinations.
`
`The Replacement Panel levies general criticisms at Petitioner, contending that
`
`the Petition fails to establish that “one of ordinary skill in the art would have regarded
`
`Chu ’684’s teachings as deficient.” However, the Replacement Panel did not
`
`apprehend that Chu ’684 did not contemplate allowing short form dialing and that
`
`the combination of Secondary References was necessary to supply that benefit. The
`
`Replacement Panel did not appreciate the nature of the Proposed Combinations and
`
`overlooked or failed to understand that the motivations to make the combinations
`
`are expressly supplied by the Secondary References themselves.
`
`VI.
`
`CONCLUSION
`
`For the foregoing reasons, the New Board should reconsider the Final Written
`
`Decision and enter a new decision cancelling all Challenged Claims.
`
`
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`Date: January 8, 2019
`
`
`
`/s/ Adam P. Seitz
`Adam P. Seitz, Reg. No. 52,206
`Eric A. Buresh, Reg. No. 50,394
`ERISE IP, P.A.
`7015 College Blvd., Suite 700
`Overland Park, KS 66211
`(913) 777-5600 Phone
`(913) 777-5601 Fax
`eric.buresh@eriseip.com
`adam.seitz@eriseip.com
`Paul R. Hart, Reg. No. 59,646
`ERISE IP, P.A.
`5600 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Suite 200
`
`
`
`17
`
`

`

`Greenwood Village, CO 80111
`(913) 777-5600 Phone
`(913) 777-5601 Fax
`paul.hart@eriseip.com
`ATTORNEYS FOR PETITIONER
`
`
`
`18
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ON PATENT OWNER
`Pursuant to 37 C.F.R. §§ 42.6(e), the undersigned certifies that on January 8,
`
`2019, a true and correct copy of this PETITIONER’S REQUEST FOR
`
`REHEARING UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d) was served on the counsel for Patent
`
`Owner by electronic means at the following addresses of record:
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Kerry S. Taylor
`John M. Carson
`Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, LLP
`2040 Main Street, 14th Floor
`Irvin, CA 92614
`BoxDigifonica@knobbe.com
`
`Kevin Malek
`Malek Moss PLLC
`340 Madison Avenue, FL19
`New York, NY 10173
`kevin.malek@malekmoss.com
`
`Ryan Thomas (pro hac vice)
`thomasattorney711@gmail.com
`
`Stephen Melvin
`Zytek Communication Corporation
`114 W. Magnolia Street, Suite 400-113
`Bellingham, WA 98225
`melvin@zytek.com
`
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`BY:
`
`/s/ Paul R. Hart
`Paul R. Hart, Reg. No. 59,646
`
`
`
`ATTORNEY FOR PETITIONER
`
`19
`
`

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