`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`_______________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`_______________
`
`APPLE, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`PAPST LICENSING GMBH & CO., KG,
`Patent Owner.
`_______________
`
`Case IPR2017-00156
`Patent 9,189,437
`_______________
`
`___________________________________
`
`PATENT OWNER PAPST LICENSING GMBH & CO., KG’S
`PRELIMINARY RESPONSE UNDER 37 C.F.R. § 42.107
`___________________________________
`
`
`
`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`
` I. STATEMENT OF MATERIAL FACTS IN DISPUTE.................................. 1
`
`II.
`
`INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`C.
`
`D.
`
`E.
`
`STATEMENT OF RELIEF REQUESTED......................................... 1
`
`OVERVIEW OF THE ‘437 PATENT ................................................. 2
`
`LEVEL OF ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART.................................. 5
`
`CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ................................................................. 7
`
`SUMMARY OF PATENT OWNER’S ARGUMENTS ..................... 9
`
`III. THE PETITION FAILS TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
`INSTITUTING AN INTER PARTES REVIEW .................................................. 12
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`THE BOARD SHOULD NOT INSTITUTE TRIAL BASED ON
`THE PETITION’S REDUNDANT GROUNDS ................................. 12
`
`THE BOARD SHOULD NOT INSTITUTE TRIAL BASED ON
`THE PETITION’S CONCLUSORY OBVIOUSNESS
`COMBINATIONS................................................................................... 16
`
`C.
`
`THE BOARD SHOULD NOT INSTITUTE TRIAL BECAUSE
`OUSLEY IS NOT PRIOR ART ............................................................ 20
`IV. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 26
`
`
`
`
`
`i
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Ex. No.
`2001
`2002
`
`
`
`EXHIBIT LIST
`
`Currently Filed – Patent Owner
`
`
`Description
`Declaration of Dr. Kenneth Fernald
`United States Patent No. 6,895,449, issued from August 15, 2002
`U.S. Application No. 10/219,105
`
`Previously Filed – Petitioner
`
`Ex. No.
`1001
`1002
`1003
`
`Description
`U.S. Patent No. 9,189,437 to Tasler
`File History excerpts for U.S. Patent No. 9,189,437
`Declaration of Dr. Erez Zadok in Support of Petition for Inter Partes
`Review of U.S. Patent No. 9,189,437
`Curriculum Vitae of Dr. Erez Zadok
`1004
`1005-1006 Intentionally Left Blank
`1007
`The SCSI Bus and IDE Interface Protocols, Applications and
`Programming, by Schmidt, First Edition, Addison-Wesley, 1995
`Intentionally left blank
`U.S. Patent No. 4,727,512 to Birkner
`U.S. Patent No. 4,792,896 to Maclean
`International Publication Number WO 92/21224 to Jorgensen
`Small Computer System Interface-2 (SCSI-2), ANSI X3.131-1994,
`American National Standard for Information Systems (ANSI).
`Operating System Concepts, by Silberschatz et al., Fourth Edition.
`1013
`Microsoft Computer Dictionary, Third Edition, Microsoft Press, 1997
`1014
`1015-1017 Intentionally Left Blank
`The IEEE Standard Dictionary of Electrical and Electronics Terms,
`1018
`Sixth Edition, 1996
`Intentionally Left Blank
`Papst Licensing GmbH & Co., KG v. Apple Inc., Case No. 6-15-cv-
`01095 (E.D. Tex.), Complaint filed November 30, 2015
`1021-1023 Intentionally Left Blank
`1024
`Declaration of Scott Bennett
`
`1008
`1009
`1010
`1011
`1012
`
`1019
`1020
`
`
`
`ii
`
`
`
`1025-1029 Intentionally Left Blank
`1030
`Misc. Action No. 07-493 (RMC), MDL No. 1880, Order Regarding
`Claims Construction
`Plug-and-Play SCSI Specification, Version 1.0, dated March 30, 1994
`(“PNP SCSI”)
`1032-1057 Intentionally Left Blank
`U.S. Patent No. 7,184,922 to Ousley et al.
`1058
`U.S. Patent No. 4,225,940 to Moriyasu et al.
`1059
`1060
`U.S. Patent No. 3,425,025 to Williams
`1061
`Abandoned U.S. Application No. 11/078,778, filed March 11, 2005
`1062
`Axelson, Jan, “USB Complete – Everything You Need to Develop
`Custom USB Peripherals,” 2nd Edition, Madison, WI: Lakeview
`Research LLC, 2001.
`Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 2.0, April 27, 2000.
`Intentionally left blank
`
`1031
`
`1063
`1064
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`iii
`
`
`
`I.
`
`STATEMENT OF MATERIAL FACTS IN DISPUTE
`
`Petitioner Apple, Inc. (“Petitioner”) did not submit a statement of material
`
`facts in its Petition for inter partes review. Paper 2 (Petition). Accordingly, no
`
`response to a statement of material facts is due pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.23(a),
`
`and no facts are admitted.
`
`II.
`
`INTRODUCTION
`Patent Owner Papst Licensing GMBH & Co., KG (“Patent Owner”)
`
`respectfully submits this Patent Owner Preliminary Response under 35 U.S.C. §
`
`313 and 37 C.F.R. § 42.107(a). It is being timely filed on or before February 14,
`
`2017 pursuant to 37 C.F.R. § 42.107(b).
`
`“The Director may not authorize an inter partes review to be instituted
`
`unless the Director determines that the information presented in the petition filed
`
`under section 311 and any response filed under section 313 shows that there is a
`
`reasonable likelihood that the petitioner would prevail with respect to at least 1 of
`
`the claims challenged in the petition.” 35 U.S.C. § 314(a). Here, institution
`
`should be denied because Petitioner has failed to establish that there is a
`
`reasonable likelihood that it will prevail on its propositions of unpatentability.
`
`
`
`A.
`
`STATEMENT OF RELIEF REQUESTED
`
`Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 314(a), Patent Owner respectfully requests that the
`
`Board deny institution of a trial with respect to all claims of the ‘437 Patent.
`
`
`
`1
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`B. OVERVIEW OF THE ‘437 PATENT
`
`
`
`The ’437 Patent involves a unique method for achieving high data transfer
`
`rates for data acquisition systems (e.g., still pictures, videos, voice recordings) to a
`
`general-purpose computer, without requiring a user to purchase, install, and/or run
`
`specialized software for each system. Exhibit 1001 (‘437 Patent) at 3:33-37. At
`
`the time of the invention, there were an increasing number and variety of data
`
`acquisition systems with the ability to capture high volumes of information. Id. at
`
`1:42-60. As such, there was an increasing demand to transfer that information to
`
`commercially-available, general purpose computers. Id. at 1:29-41. But at that
`
`time—and today—performing that data transfer operation required either loading
`
`specialized, sophisticated software onto a general purpose computer, which
`
`increases the risk of error and the level of complexity for the operator, or
`
`specifically matching interface devices for a data acquisition system to a host
`
`system that may maximize data transfer rates but lacks the flexibility to operate
`
`with different devices. Id. at 1:24-3:25.
`
`The ‘437 Patent recognizes that the existing options were wasteful and
`
`inefficient and presents a solution that would achieve high data transfer rates,
`
`without specialized software, while being sufficiently flexible to operate
`
`independent of device or host manufacturers. Id. at 2:20-41 and 3:29-32. The
`
`resulting invention would allow a data acquisition system to identify itself as a type
`
`
`
`2
`
`
`
`of common device so as to leverage the inherent capabilities of general-purpose,
`
`commercially-available computers. Id. at 4:16-30. Accordingly, users could avoid
`
`loading specific software; improve data transfer efficiency; save time, processing
`
`power, and memory space; and avoid the waste associated with purchasing
`
`specialized computers or loading specific software for each device. Id. at 3:29-32,
`
`3:33-46, 7:38-8:4, 8:34-41, 9:23-27 and 11:38-55. The ’437 Patent claims
`
`variations of this concept and provides a crucial, yet seemingly simple, method and
`
`apparatus for a high data rate, device-independent information transfer. Id. at 3:29-
`
`32.
`
`The interface device disclosed in the ‘437 Patent can leverage “drivers for
`
`input/output device[s] customary in a host device which reside in the BIOS system
`
`of the host device . . . .” Id. at 10:25-26; see also id. at 4:23-27 (“The interface
`
`device according to the present invention therefore no longer communicates with
`
`the host device or computer by means of a specially designed driver but the means
`
`of a program which is present in the BIOS system . . .”), 5:17-23 (describing the
`
`use of “usual BIOS routines” to issue INQUIRY instructions to the interface), and
`
`7:57-64 (describing use of BIOS routines). Similarly, the written description
`
`describes also using drivers included in the operating system. Id. at 5:11-14
`
`(“Communication between the host system or host device and the interface device
`
`is based on known standard access commands as supported by all known operating
`
`
`
`3
`
`
`
`systems (e.g., DOS®, Windows®, Unix®).”). Alternatively, if the required
`
`specific driver or drivers for a multi-purpose interface (such as a SCSI interface) is
`
`already present in a host device, such drivers could be used with the ‘437 Patent’s
`
`interface device instead of, or in addition to, customary drivers which reside in the
`
`BIOS. Id. at 10:23-29. Accordingly, the ‘437 Patent contemplated a universal
`
`interface device that could operate independent of the manufacturer of the
`
`computer. Id. at 11:38-55. Indeed, the preferred embodiment discloses that the
`
`interface device includes three different connectors, a 50 pin SCSI connector 1240,
`
`a 25 pin D-shell connector 1280, and a 25 pin connector 1282, to allow the ‘437
`
`Patent’s interface device to connect to a variety of different standard interfaces that
`
`could be present in a host computer. Id. at 8:42-59 and FIG. 2.
`
`As is apparent from the title of the ‘437 Patent, the interface device
`
`disclosed is capable of acquiring and processing analog data. As shown in FIG. 2
`
`reproduced below, the ‘437 Patent discloses that the interface device 10 has an
`
`analog
`
`input at connection 16 for receiving analog data from a data
`
`transmit/receive device on a plurality of analog input channels 1505 and
`
`simultaneously digitizing the received analog data using, inter alia, a sample and
`
`hold amplifier 1515 and an analog to digital converter 1530 that converts analog
`
`data received from the plurality of channels 1505 into digital data that may then be
`
`processed by the processor 1300. Id. at 8:60-9:8 and 9:41-56.
`
`
`
`4
`
`
`
`
`
`LEVEL OF ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART
`C.
`“The person of ordinary skill in the art is a hypothetical person who is
`
`
`
`
`
`presumed to have known the relevant art at the time of the invention.” Manual of
`
`Patent Examining Procedure (“MPEP”) 2141.II.C. Factors that may be considered
`
`in determining the level of ordinary skill in the art may include: (1) type of
`
`problems encountered in the art; (2) prior art solutions to those problems; (3)
`
`rapidity with which innovations are made; (4) sophistication of the technology; and
`
`
`
`5
`
`
`
`(5) educational level of active workers in the field. In re GPAC, 57 F.3d 1573,
`
`1579 (Fed. Cir. 1995).
`
`Petitioner’s proposed definition of the level of ordinary skill in the art is
`
`partially consistent with Patent Owner’s view. Petitioner asserts that “a person
`
`having ordinary skill in the art (‘POSITA’) at the relevant time, would have had at
`
`least a four-year degree in electrical engineering, computer science, computer
`
`engineering, or related field of study, or equivalent experience, and at least two
`
`years’ experience in studying or developing computer interfaces or peripherals and
`
`storage related software.” Paper 2 (Petition) at 10. Petitioner further contends that
`
`“[a] POSITA would also be familiar with operating systems (e.g., MS-DOS,
`
`Windows, Unix), their associated file systems (e.g., FAT, UFS, FFS), device drivers
`
`for computer components and peripherals (e.g., mass storage device drivers), and
`
`communication interfaces (e.g., SCSI, USB, PCMCIA).” Id.
`
`Patent Owner contends that the field of the invention relates to “the transfer of
`
`data and in particular to interface devices for communication between a computer or
`
`host device and a data transmit/receive device from which data is to be acquired or
`
`with which two-way communication is to take place.” Exhibit 1001 (‘437 Patent) at
`
`1:18-22. A POSITA would have at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field such
`
`as computer engineering or electrical engineering and at least three years of
`
`experience in the design, development, and/or testing of hardware and software
`
`
`
`6
`
`
`
`components involved with data transfer or in embedded devices and their interfaces
`
`with host systems. Alternatively, a POSITA may have five or more years of
`
`experience in these technologies, without a bachelor’s degree.
`
`
`
`D. CLAIM CONSTRUCTION
`In an inter partes review (“IPR”), the Board construes claim terms in an
`
`unexpired patent using their broadest reasonable construction in light of the
`
`specification of the patent in which they appear. 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b). The claim
`
`language should be read in light of the specification as it would be interpreted by
`
`one of ordinary skill in the art. Cuozzo Speed Techs., LLC v. Lee, No. 15-446, 136
`
`S. Ct. 2131, 2146 (June 20, 2016). The broadest reasonable meaning given to
`
`claim language must take into account any definitions presented in the
`
`specification. In re Am. Acad. of Sci. Tech. Ctr., 367 F.3d 1359, 1364 (Fed. Cir.
`
`2004) (citing In re Bass, 314 F.3d 575, 577 (Fed. Cir. 2002)). Under this standard,
`
`claim terms are given their ordinary and customary meaning as would be
`
`understood by one of ordinary skill in the art in the context of the entire disclosure.
`
`In re Translogic Tech., Inc., 504 F.3d 1249, 1257 (Fed. Cir. 2007) (citing Phillips
`
`v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (en banc)).
`
`Petitioner proposes that “multi-purpose interface of the host computer” be
`
`construed as “a communication interface designed for use with multiple devices
`
`that can have different functions from each other.” Paper 2 (Petition) at 11. Patent
`
`
`
`7
`
`
`
`Owner does not take a position at this time related to this term and reserves its
`
`right to challenge Petitioner’s proposed construction, if appropriate, later in the
`
`proceeding.
`
`Petitioner further proposes that “customary device driver” means “driver for
`
`a device normally present in most commercially available host devices at the time
`
`of the invention.” Paper 2 (Petition) at 12. Patent Owner does not agree with this
`
`definition. In particular, Patent Owner does not agree with Petitioner’s addition of
`
`“at the time of the invention” to its construction. Patent Owner believes a more
`
`appropriate construction would be “the driver for the data device normally part of
`
`commercially available computer systems.”
`
`A significant feature of the ‘437 Patent’s invention is its ability to attach
`
`devices to a host computer without requiring specific user-installed drivers by
`
`identifying the attached device as a device the host device is already prepared to
`
`operate with (e.g. a device for which the host has installed drivers). Exhibit 1001
`
`(‘437 Patent) at 3:33-40, 4:23-27 and 10:23-26. The specification does not
`
`indicate that only drivers normally installed in host devices at the time of the
`
`invention are somehow critical to practicing the invention.
`
` Rather, the
`
`specification describes a wide range of exemplary, but sometimes generic, drivers
`
`and interfaces, ranging from hard drives, floppy disk drives, CD-ROMs, tape
`
`drives, SCSI, etc., and the expanding of technology can cause the number of
`
`
`
`8
`
`
`
`drives, devices, etc., which qualify as “customary” to increase over time. Id. at
`
`3:33-50.
`
`There is no indication that the driver was limited to one from the time of the
`
`invention; the patent’s focus is leveraging drivers normally available in
`
`commercial computers. Petitioner’s proposal would exclude preferred, disclosed
`
`embodiments and should be rejected. See Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc. v.
`
`Perrigo Co., 616 F.3d 1283, 1290 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (“A claim construction that
`
`excludes the preferred embodiment is rarely, if ever, correct and would require
`
`highly persuasive evidentiary support.”) (internal quotations omitted).
`
`E. SUMMARY OF PATENT OWNER’S ARGUMENTS
`The Board has discretion to “deny some or all grounds for unpatentability
`
`for some or all of the challenged claims.” 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(b). Petitioner bears
`
`the burden of demonstrating a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail in
`
`showing unpatentability on the grounds asserted in the Petition. 37 C.F.R. §
`
`42.108(c). While it is not required to file a preliminary response, Patent Owner
`
`takes this limited opportunity to explain the reasons the Board should not institute
`
`trial. 37 C.F.R. § 42.107(a).
`
`First, the Board should reject the Petition because Petitioner proposes
`
`horizontally redundant grounds of invalidity without adequately explaining how
`
`any particular reference used in any particular ground more closely satisfies a
`
`9
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`claim limitation in some respect than another reference used in another ground.
`
`This violates Board precedent requiring petitioners to identify meaningful
`
`differences in the proposed rejections. Petitioner filed five (5) separate IPR
`
`petitions against the ‘437 Patent that collectively assert grounds of rejection based
`
`on five (5) different primary prior art references without adequate explanation
`
`about why some of these primary references more closely satisfy certain
`
`limitations of the ‘437 Patent than other primary references. Accordingly, the
`
`Board should exercise its discretion and deny this Petition under 35 U.S.C. §§
`
`315(d) and 325(d) and the redundancy principles established in Liberty Mutual
`
`Insurance Co. v. Progressive Casualty Insurance Co., CBM2012-00003, Paper 7
`
`(PTAB Oct. 25, 2012).
`
`Second, Petitioner’s assertions of obviousness based on combining the
`
`primary reference, United States Patent No. 4,225,940 (“Moriyasu”), with
`
`teachings of the secondary reference, United States Patent No. 7,184,922
`
`(“Ousley”), are mere conclusory statements. Because Petitioner fails to provide a
`
`persuasive fact-based analysis with some rational underpinning to support these
`
`combination theories of obviousness, trial must be denied.
`
`Third, every ground recited in the Petition relies on Ousley which was filed
`
`on February 28, 2005. Exhibit 1058 (Ousley). The ‘437 Patent claims priority to
`
`a German application filed March 4, 1997 which predates Ousley. Ousley
`
`
`
`10
`
`
`
`therefore fails to qualify as prior art under any section of 35 U.S.C. § 102.
`
`Petitioner argues Ousley is an intervening reference because “the challenged
`
`claims recite limitations having no written description in the abandoned
`
`application [U.S. Application No. 11/078,778 from which the ’437 application
`
`claims priority].” Paper 2 (Petition) at 1. Petitioner’s argument however is
`
`meritless because the Petition fails to show the abandoned application lacks
`
`written description for the “without requiring any end user to interact with the
`
`computer to set up a file system in the ADGPD at any time” limitation. Because
`
`the abandoned application provides written description for this limitation (as do
`
`all of the applications listed in the chain of priority of the ‘437 Patent), the ‘437
`
`Patent is entitled to a priority date of March 4, 1997 prior to the date of
`
`application of Ousley. Ousley therefore does not qualify as prior art, and the
`
`Petition should be denied.
`
`Patent Owner does not attempt to fully address the myriad of other
`
`deficiencies of the underdeveloped grounds asserted in the Petition. See
`
`Travelocity.com L.P. et al. v. Cronos Technologies, LLC, CBM 2014-00082,
`
`Paper 12 at 10 (PTAB Oct. 16, 2014) (“nothing may be gleaned from the Patent
`
`Owner’s challenge or failure to challenge the grounds of unpatentability for any
`
`particular reason”). However, the deficiencies addressed herein are dispositive
`
`and preclude trial on any asserted ground.
`
`
`
`11
`
`
`
`III. THE PETITION FAILS TO MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR
`INSTITUTING AN INTER PARTES REVIEW
`
`Trial should not be instituted because the Petition does not comply with at
`
`least three (3) Board requirements. The Petition (1) violates the redundancy
`
`principles established by the Board; (2) contains only conclusory obviousness
`
`assertions; and (3) applies art that does not qualify as prior art under any section
`
`of 35 U.S.C. § 102.
`
`A.
`
`THE BOARD SHOULD NOT INSTITUTE TRIAL BASED ON
`THE PETITION’S REDUNDANT GROUNDS
`Petitioner filed five (5) separate IPR petitions related to the ‘437 Patent
`
`(IPR2016-01840,
`
`IPR2016-01841,
`
`IPR2016-01842,
`
`IPR2016-01844
`
`and
`
`IPR2017-00156), using five (5) different primary references. Because no
`
`meaningful distinction between these petitions was made in the instant Petition,
`
`the Board should reject this Petition.
`
`“[M]ultiple grounds, which are presented in a redundant manner by a
`
`petitioner who makes no meaningful distinction between them, are contrary to the
`
`regulatory and statutory mandates, and therefore are not all entitled to
`
`consideration.” Liberty Mut., CBM2012-00003, Paper 7 at 2. Such redundancies
`
`place a significant burden on both the Board and the Patent Owner, causing
`
`unnecessary delay and compromising the ability to complete review within the
`
`statutory deadline. Id. Eliminating redundant grounds streamlines and converges
`
`
`
`12
`
`
`
`the issues. Idle Free Sys., Inc. v. Bergstrom, Inc., IPR2012-00027, Paper 26 at 4-
`
`5 (PTAB June 11, 2013).
`
`A redundancy analysis must focus on whether the petitioner articulated a
`
`meaningful distinction of the relative strengths and weaknesses of its application
`
`of the prior art to one or more claim limitations. EMC Corp. v. PersonalWeb
`
`Techs., LLC, IPR2013-00087, Paper 25 at 3-4 (PTAB June 5, 2013). The
`
`Petitioner cannot evade the prohibition against horizontally redundant grounds by
`
`spreading them among multiple petitions. SAS Inst. Inc. v. Complementsoft, LLC,
`
`IPR2013-00581, Paper 15 (PTAB Dec. 30, 2013).
`
`Horizontal redundancy exists when proposed grounds apply “a plurality of
`
`prior art references. . . not in combination to complement each other but as
`
`distinct and separate alternatives.” Liberty Mut., CBM2012-00003, Paper 7 at 3.
`
`Redundant references “provide essentially the same teaching to meet the same
`
`claim limitation, and the associated arguments do not explain why one reference
`
`more closely satisfies the claim limitation at issue in some respects than another
`
`reference, and vice versa.” Id. (emphasis in original).
`
`Petitioner has collectively raised twenty (20) grounds of unpatentability
`
`against overlapping challenged claims in its five (5) related petitions involving the
`
`‘437 Patent. Petitioner’s grounds, filed serially across these five (5) petitions are
`
`as follows:
`
`
`
`13
`
`
`
`Proceeding Patent Claims Ground and References
`2016-
`1, 4-6, 9-16,
`§103 Kawasaki/Alon/Schmidt
`01840
`18, 30, 34, 43,
`§103 Kawasaki/Alon/Schmidt/Van Sant
`45
`§103 Kawasaki/Alon/Schmidt/Ogami
`§103 Kawasaki/Alon/Schmidt/Sangveraphunsiri
`§103 Murata/Salomon/Schmidt
`§103 Murata/Salomon/Schmidt/Araghi
`§103 Murata/Salomon/Schmidt/Compton
`§103 Murata/Salomon/Schmidt/Reisch
`§103 Pucci/Kepley/Schmidt
`§103 Pucci/Kepley/Schmidt/Shinosky
`§103 Pucci/Kepley/Schmidt/Campbell
`§103 Pucci/Kepley/Schmidt/Wilson
`§103 Pucci/Schmidt
`§103 Pucci/Schmidt/Campbell
`§103 Ard/Salomon/Schmidt
`§103 Ard/Salomon/Schmidt/Araghi
`§103 Ard/Salomon/Schmidt/Compton
`§103 Ard/Salomon/Schmidt/Reisch
`§103 Moriyasu/Ousley
`§103 Moriyasu/Ousley/Williams
`
`1, 4-6, 9-16,
`18, 30, 32, 34,
`43, 45
`
`1, 4-6, 9-16,
`18, 30, 32, 34,
`43, 45
`
`1, 4-6, 9-16,
`18, 30, 32, 34,
`43, 45
`
`1, 4-6, 9-16,
`18, 30, 32, 34
`
`2016-
`01841
`
`2016-
`01842
`
`2016-
`01844
`
`2016-
`00156
`
`
`
`By way of example, Petitioner uses Moriyasu as the primary reference to
`
`challenge the various claims of the ‘437 Patent in the instant Petition. This
`
`analysis is redundant of the other Petitions which utilize Murata, Pucci, Ard and
`
`Kawasaki as primary references to challenge the same claims. Petitioner only
`
`provides a very brief explanation regarding the redundancy issue at the end of the
`
`Petition. Paper 2 (Petition) at 59. Petitioner merely states:
`
`Petitioner’s proposed grounds against the ‘437 patent
`based on Moriyasu and Ousley are not redundant to
`grounds previously proposed by Apple or other
`Petitioners based on Ard, Pucci, Murata, Kawasaki, and
`Aytac. The proposed grounds are the only ones that
`14
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`
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`challenge the ‘437 patent’s priority benefit to its parent
`U.S. applications. The Ard petition in IPR2016-01844
`challenged the ‘437 patent’s priority benefit to the original
`German
`application, which
`contained
`substantive
`differences relative to the ‘437 specification. That
`petition therefore presented prior art that intervened
`between the German application and the PCT filing. The
`instant Petition challenges the ‘437 patent’s priority
`benefit to U.S. parent applications that share the same
`specification as the ‘437 patent. Ousley is an intervening
`prior-art reference between the first U.S. filing in 1999
`and the numerous continuations that resulted in the 2006
`filing of the application from which the ‘437 patent
`originated.
`
`Id. This entire redundancy reasoning is directed to the wrong factors. A
`
`
`
`redundancy analysis must focus on whether the petitioner articulated a meaningful
`
`distinction of the relative strengths and weaknesses of its application of the prior
`
`art to one or more claim limitations. EMC Corp. v. PersonalWeb Techs., LLC,
`
`IPR2013-00087, Paper 25 at 3-4 (PTAB June 5, 2013). Whether the applied
`
`references qualify unequivocally as prior art or not is irrelevant to the redundancy
`
`inquiry. Because Petitioner relies on multiple references to provide essentially the
`
`same teaching to meet the same claim limitations without providing any
`
`explanation for why one reference more closely satisfies given limitations than
`
`another reference, this Petition should be denied.
`
`Filing numerous IPR petitions for the purpose of circumventing the word
`
`count requirement of 37 C.F.R. § 42.24(a) is also an inappropriate excuse for
`
`filing multiple petitions. SAS Inst. Inc. v. Complementsoft, LLC, IPR2013-00581,
`
`
`
`15
`
`
`
`Paper 17 (PTAB Feb. 24, 2014). The Petitioner has an obligation to advance its
`
`most salient grounds in one petition or to explain in detail why that cannot be
`
`accomplished due to the relative strengths and weaknesses of particular prior art
`
`applied
`
`to particular claims
`
`that need
`
`to be addressed
`
`in multiple
`
`grounds/petitions. Id. Absent such an explanation, the Board should not institute
`
`trial because the serial filing of petitions creates undue burden on the Patent
`
`Owner and Board and conflicts with the very purpose of IPRs—to secure the
`
`“just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution of every proceeding.” 37 C.F.R. §
`
`42.1(b).
`
`B.
`
`
`
`THE BOARD SHOULD NOT INSTITUTE TRIAL BASED ON
`THE
`PETITION’S
`CONCLUSORY
`OBVIOUSNESS
`COMBINATIONS
`
`
`35 U.S.C. § 103 states, “[a] patent for a claimed invention may not be
`
`obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed
`
`as set forth in section 102, if the difference between the claimed invention and the
`
`prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious
`
`before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having
`
`ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains.” 35 U.S.C. §
`
`103.
`
`
`
`As required by MPEP 2143.01, obviousness can be established by
`
`combining or modifying the teachings of the prior art to produce the claimed
`
`
`
`16
`
`
`
`invention where there is some teaching, suggestion, or motivation to do so. In re
`
`Kahn, 441 F.3d 977, 986 (Fed. Cir. 2006) (discussing rationale underlying the
`
`motivation-suggestion-teaching test as a guard against using hindsight in an
`
`obviousness analysis). More specifically, in accordance with MPEP 2143.01(IV),
`
`a statement that modification of the prior art to meet the claimed invention would
`
`have been well within the ordinary skill of the art at the time the claimed
`
`invention was made because the references relied upon teach that all aspects of
`
`the claimed invention were individually known in the art is not sufficient to
`
`establish a prima facie case of obviousness without some objective reason to
`
`combine the teachings of the references. Intri-Plex Techs., Inc. v. Saint-Gobain
`
`Performance Plastics Rencol Ltd., IPR2014-00309, Paper 83 at 19 (PTAB Mar.
`
`23, 2014); see also Ex parte Levengood, 28 USPQ2d 1300 (Bd. Pat. App. & Inter.
`
`1993). “Rejections on obviousness cannot be sustained by mere conclusory
`
`statements; instead, there must be some articulated reasoning with some rational
`
`underpinning to support the legal conclusion of obviousness.” KSR Int’l Co. v.
`
`Teleflex Inc., 550 U.S. 398, 418 (2007). In this respect, to establish a prima facie
`
`case of obviousness, it is necessary to present a showing that the references relied
`
`upon teach all aspects of the claimed invention and to present an articulated
`
`reasoning with some rational underpinning to support the legal conclusion of
`
`obviousness to combine the teachings of the references.
`
`
`
`17
`
`
`
`
`
`The Board has previously denied petitions on obviousness grounds because
`
`the Petitioner failed to explain how references may be combined and why the
`
`combination accounts for all features of the claims. Dell, Inc. v. Elecs. &
`
`Telecommc’ns Res. Inst., IPR2014-00152, Paper 12 at 26-28 (PTAB May 16,
`
`2014); see also Dominion Dealer Sols., LLC v. Autoalert, Inc., IPR2013-00223,
`
`Paper 9 at 19 (PTAB Aug. 15, 2013).
`
`Here, Petitioner makes very little effort to explain why the various
`
`references that allegedly disclose all of the limitations of the claims of the ‘437
`
`Patent should or could be combined. In discussing the “file of digitized analog
`
`data” limitation of the challenged independent claim, Petitioner states, for
`
`example, a “POSITA would have found it obvious to modify Moriyasu according
`
`to Ousley to store the digitized waveform as a file on memory 82, thereby
`
`allowing a computer ‘to obtain the [digital waveform file] in the same standard
`
`manner in which it would obtain files stored on any other USB Mass Storage
`
`device.’” Paper 2 (Petition) at 24-25. Petitioner’s expert adds nothing to this
`
`analysis and merely parrots back the same unsupported positions from the
`
`Petition. Exhibit 1003 (Zadok Declaration) at ¶ 81-82. Petitioner concludes the
`
`combination discloses the “the processed and digitized analog data is stored in the
`
`data storage memory as at least one file of digitized analog data” even though
`
`Petitioner admits neither Moriyasu nor Ousley teaches it.
`
`
`
`18
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`
`
`However, the Board has determined that this type of analysis is insufficient
`
`for asserting obviousness. TRW Automotive US LLC v. Magna Electronics Inc.,
`
`IPR2014-00258, Paper 16 at 15 (PTAB June 26, 2014). In TRW, the Board
`
`determined that “TRW does not support its ‘simple substitution’ or ‘obvious to
`
`try’ rationales with explanation or evidence.” Id. “TRW does not explain, for
`
`instance, why the alleged combination would be a ‘simple’ substitution achieving
`
`‘predictable results,’ or why selecting Bottesch’s array, as opposed to any other,
`
`would be a choice from a ‘finite number’ of solutions with a ‘reasonable
`
`expectation of success.’” Id. The Board also determined that TRW’s rationale for
`
`combining certain references was conclusory when the only explanation offered
`
`was because “doing so would be nothing more than [the] use of a known
`
`technique to improve similar devices in the same way,” and “such combination
`
`would also be tantamount to combining prior art elements according to known
`
`methods to yield predictable results.” Id. at 16. Consequently, Petitioner’s
`
`similar analysis in the instant Petition does not meet the standards set forth in 35
`
`U.S.C. § 103 and institution should be denied.
`
`In a recent decision, the Federal Circuit also identified several insufficient
`
`articulations of a motivation to combine references in an obviousness rejection.
`
`In re Nuvasive, Inc., No. 2015-1670 (Fed. Cir. December 7, 2016). The Federal
`
`Circuit stated:
`
`
`
`19
`
`
`
`insufficient
`some
`identified
`We have, however,
`articulations of motivation
`to combine.
` First,
`“conclusory statements” alone are insufficient and,
`instead, the finding