throbber
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`———————
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`
`
`
`———————
`
`APPLE INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`SAINT LAWRENCE COMMUNICATIONS LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`
`———————
`
`Case IPR2017-01244
`Patent 6,807,524 B1
`
`———————
`
`
`
`PETITIONER’S REQUEST FOR REHEARING
`OF INSTITUTION DECISION UNDER 37 CFR § 42.71(d)
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`I. 
`
`INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 
`
`II.  LEGAL STANDARD .......................................................................................... 2 
`
`III.  RATIONALE FOR REHEARING ....................................................................... 2 
`
`A.  The Board overlooked the requirement of 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c) and
`failed to view testimonial evidence in the light most favorable to
`Petitioner ....................................................................................................... 2 
`
`1.  The Petition and supporting expert declaration establish that
`Salami teaches the claimed filter arrangement .............................................. 3 
`
`2.  Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence created a genuine issue of
`material fact as to the teachings of Salami .................................................... 5 
`
`3.  The Board erred when it credited Patent Owner’s testimonial
`evidence over Petitioner’s corresponding testimonial evidence ................... 6 
`
`B.  The Board erred to the extent it substituted its own understanding of
`Salami for the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art .................. 9 
`
`IV. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 12 
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`ii
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
` Page(s)
`
`Cases
`Brand v. Miller,
`487 F.3d 862 (Fed. Cir. 2007) .................................................................. 2, 10, 11
`
`Kingston Tech. Co. v. Polaris Innovations Ltd.,
`IPR2016-01623, Paper 7 (P.T.A.B Feb. 15, 2017) ........................................... 8, 9
`
`Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. UCB Pharma GmbH,
`IPR2016-00510, Paper 12 (P.T.A.B. July 20, 2016) ............................................ 8
`
`PPG Indus., Inc. v. Celanese Polymer Specialties Co.,
`840 F.2d 1565 (Fed. Cir. 1988) ............................................................................ 2
`
`Perfect Web Techs., Inc. v. InfoUSA, Inc.,
`587 F.3d 1324 (Fed. Cir. 2009) .......................................................................... 10
`
`Realtime Data LLC, v. Oracle Int’l Corp.,
`IPR2016-00695, Paper 8 (P.T.A.B. Sept. 13, 2016) ............................................. 9
`
`Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp.,
`814 F.3d 1309 (Fed. Cir. 2016) .................................................................... 10, 11
`
`Other Authorities
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.6(e) ................................................................................................... 13
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.71(c) ................................................................................................... 2
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d) .............................................................................................. 1, 2
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c) ........................................................ 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12
`
`Amendments to the Rules of Practice for Trials Before the Patent
`Trial and Appeal Board, 81 Fed. Reg. 18750, 18755 (Apr. 1, 2016) .................. 9
`
`
`
`iii
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`I.
`
`INTRODUCTION
`Petitioner Apple Inc. (“Apple”) respectfully requests rehearing under 37
`
`C.F.R. § 42.71(d) of the Board’s October 25, 2017 Decision denying institution of
`
`inter partes review of U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524 (“the ’524 Patent”). Specifically,
`
`Petitioner requests that the Board reconsider its determination that the Petition
`
`failed to establish that the prior art, Salami (Ex-1008), discloses the particular filter
`
`arrangement recited in the independent claims. Rehearing is warranted because the
`
`Board overlooked 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c), which requires evidence to be viewed in
`
`the light most favorable to Petitioner when there is a genuine issue of material fact.
`
`Here, Patent Owner filed expert testimony with its Preliminary Response that
`
`directly conflicted with the testimony of Petitioner’s expert that Salami teaches the
`
`claimed filter arrangement. The Board erred when it credited Patent Owner’s
`
`expert evidence (“we agree with Patent Owner that Salami does not disclose [the
`
`claimed filter arrangement],” Inst. Dec. 17) instead of resolving the factual dispute
`
`in favor of Petitioner.
`
`To the extent the Board relied upon its own understanding of Salami instead
`
`of the understanding of a person of ordinary skill in the art, Petitioner respectfully
`
`submits that doing so constitutes error in the context of this proceeding. Federal
`
`Circuit case law establishes that “in the context of a contested case, it is
`
`
`
`1
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`impermissible for the Board to base its factual findings on its expertise, rather than
`
`on evidence in the record.” Brand v. Miller, 487 F.3d 862, 869 (Fed. Cir. 2007).
`
`When the conflicting testimonial evidence in this proceeding is viewed in
`
`the light most favorable to Petitioner, as required by§ 42.108(c), the record
`
`establishes that Salami discloses the claimed filter arrangement. Petitioner
`
`respectfully requests that the Board institute trial in order to resolve this factual
`
`dispute with the benefit of a fully developed record.
`
`II. LEGAL STANDARD
`The Board’s decision on institution is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. 37
`
`C.F.R. § 42.71(c). An abuse of discretion occurs when a “decision was based on an
`
`erroneous conclusion of law or clearly erroneous factual findings, or . . . a clear
`
`error of judgment.” PPG Indus., Inc. v. Celanese Polymer Specialties Co., 840
`
`F.2d 1565, 1567 (Fed. Cir. 1988). Further, a request for rehearing “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.” 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d).
`
`III. RATIONALE FOR REHEARING
`A. The Board overlooked the requirement of 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c)
`and failed to view testimonial evidence in the light most favorable to
`Petitioner
`When a patent owner introduces testimonial evidence with its preliminary
`2
`
`
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`response, “a genuine issue of material fact created by such testimonial evidence
`
`will be viewed in the light most favorable to the petitioner solely for purposes of
`
`deciding whether to institute an inter partes review.” 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c). In the
`
`present proceeding, after Petitioner introduced expert testimony that a person of
`
`ordinary skill in the art would understand Salami as teaching the filter arrangement
`
`recited in element c) of claim 1 (the “perceptual weighting filter” element), Patent
`
`Owner introduced directly conflicting testimonial evidence—and created a genuine
`
`issue of material fact. Instead of viewing the evidence in the light most favorable
`
`to Petitioner, as required by § 42.108(c), the Board improperly credited Patent
`
`Owner’s testimonial evidence and held that Salami does not disclose this claim
`
`element. This error warrants rehearing.
`
`1.
`The Petition and supporting expert declaration establish
`that Salami teaches the claimed filter arrangement
`
`The Petition set forth that the “perceptual weighting filter” element is met by
`
`certain disclosures on page 448 of Salami. Pet. at 33. After quoting the relevant
`
`portions of Salami, the Petition cites to Dr. Cohen’s expert testimony (Ex-1003)
`
`and explains that:
`
`Salami states here that the preemphasized wideband speech
`signal is first used for LP analysis, and next, the pre-emphasized
`signal is perceptually weighted and used to compute the
`
`
`
`3
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`
`
`excitation codeword. Ex-1003, ¶¶ 114 et seq.
`
`Id. This explanation of Salami reflects the understanding of a person of ordinary
`
`skill in the art found in the corresponding portion of Dr. Cohen’s declaration. See
`
`Ex-1003, ¶ 114 at p. 65. Dr. Cohen testified that:
`
`
`
`Id. This testimonial evidence does not “merely repeat” the statements in the
`
`Petition, as asserted by the Board in the Decision (at 19), but is instead the
`
`evidentiary basis for the statements in the Petition. Dr. Cohen analyzes the
`
`disclosure on page 448 of Salami and arrives at the conclusion that a person of
`
`ordinary skill in the art would understand Salami as teaching a preemphasized
`
`
`
`4
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`signal input to a perceptual weighting filter.1 This expert testimony is affirmative
`
`evidence that Salami discloses the claimed filter arrangement and, under §
`
`42.108(c), cannot be ignored at institution.
`
`2.
`Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence created a genuine issue
`of material fact as to the teachings of Salami
`
`
`
`In its Preliminary Response, Patent Owner disputed Dr. Cohen’s
`
`understanding of Salami and submitted testimonial evidence to support its position.
`
`See POPR 35-37, Ex-2004, ¶¶ 91-92. Specifically, Patent Owner quotes Dr.
`
`Gottesman’s analysis of the disclosure on page 448 of Salami and reproduces his
`
`diagram of how “a POSITA would have understood Salami’s encoder.” POPR 36
`
`(citing Ex-2004 ¶¶ 91-92). Patent Owner provides no other reasons besides Dr.
`
`Gottesman’s testimony as to why Salami does not meet the claimed filter
`
`arrangement.
`
`
`
`Importantly, Dr. Gottesman’s testimony as to how a person of ordinary skill
`
`in the art would understand the disclosure on page 448 of Salami directly conflicts
`
`with Dr. Cohen’s testimony:
`
`
`1 Dr. Cohen explains earlier in his declaration that “my testimony below refers to
`
`the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the speech-coding arts.” Ex-1003, ¶ 24.
`
`
`
`5
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`Dr. Cohen
`“Salami states that the pre-emphasized
`wideband speech signal is first used for
`linear prediction analysis, and next, the
`signal is perceptually weighted and used
`to compute the excitation codeword –
`i.e., the same preemphasized signal
`used for LP analysis is input to the
`perceptual weighting filter.” Ex-1003,
`65. (emphasis added)
`
`Dr. Gottesman
`“This indicates that the actual encoded
`signal was not preemphasised and
`therefore, the perceptually weighting
`filter was not used for filtering a pre-
`emphasized signal (i.e., the perceptual
`weighting filter is not ‘responsive to
`said pre-emphasised signal,’ as required
`by the independent claims).” Ex-2004,
`47 (emphasis added)
`
`In other words, Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence created a material factual
`
`dispute as to whether a person of ordinary skill would understand Salami as
`
`teaching a perceptual weighting filter that is responsive to a pre-emphasized signal.
`
`As such, under § 42.108(c), the Board is required to view this evidence in the light
`
`most favorable to Petitioner for the purposes of institution. In this case, that would
`
`mean crediting Dr. Cohen’s testimony and finding—at least provisionally—that
`
`Salami does in fact teach a perceptual weighting filter that is responsive to a pre-
`
`emphasized signal. Rehearing is appropriate because the Board failed to do so.
`
`3.
`The Board erred when it credited Patent Owner’s
`testimonial evidence over Petitioner’s corresponding testimonial
`evidence
`
`Although Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence created a genuine issue of
`
`material fact as to the teachings of Salami, the Board failed to follow § 42.108(c)
`
`and view the evidence in the light most favorable to Petitioner. Instead, the Board
`6
`
`
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`viewed the evidence in the light most favorable to Patent Owner, explaining in the
`
`Decision that “we agree with Patent Owner that Salami does not disclose that the
`
`preemphasized input speech signal is used as an input to a perceptual weighting
`
`filter as recited in claim 1. See PO Resp. 35–37.” Inst. Dec. 17 (emphasis added).
`
`Because Patent Owner’s position is based entirely on the opinion of its expert, Dr.
`
`Gottesman, the Board improperly credited Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence
`
`over Petitioner’s corresponding testimonial evidence—and thus overlooked
`
`§ 42.108(c).
`
`The Board’s error appears to stem from a misunderstanding of Petitioner’s
`
`evidence with respect to the “perceptual weighting filter” element. For example,
`
`after analyzing page 448 of Salami and the corresponding portion of the Petition,
`
`the Board asserted that Petitioner’s analysis amounts to “little more than an
`
`unsupported conclusory remark.” Inst. Dec. 19. As discussed above, however,
`
`Petitioner’s conclusion relies upon Dr. Cohen’s analysis of how a person of
`
`ordinary skill in the art would understand page 448 of Salami. Pet. 33 (citing Ex-
`
`1003). This expert testimony was directly countered by Patent Owner’s own
`
`expert testimony that a person of ordinary skill in the art would not understand
`
`Salami as teaching the “perceptual weighting filter” element. See POPR 36 (citing
`
`Ex-2004, ¶¶ 91-92).
`
`
`
`7
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`The Board overlooked this factual dispute and the requirements of
`
`§ 42.108(c) when it failed to resolve the issue in favor of Petitioner for the
`
`purposes of institution. In particular, instead of viewing the evidence about Salami
`
`in the light most favorable to Petitioner, the Board credited Dr. Gottesman’s
`
`testimony when it “agree[d] with Patent Owner that Salami does not disclose [the
`
`claimed filter arrangement].” Inst. Dec. 17. Although the Board disclaimed
`
`reliance on Dr. Gottesman’s illustration of Salami’s alleged filter arrangement,
`
`Inst. Dec. 20, it nevertheless appears to have adopted his testimony that page 488
`
`of Salami does not teach the “perceptual weighting filter” element. This error
`
`warrants rehearing.
`
`Previous institution decisions in which the Board applied § 42.108(c) to
`
`resolve factual disputes are informative. They illustrate that, although the Board
`
`may “find Patent Owner’s arguments reasonable,” § 42.108(c) requires factual
`
`disputes to be resolved in favor of Petitioner for the purposes of institution. See,
`
`e.g., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. UCB Pharma GmbH, IPR2016-00510, Paper
`
`12 at 17 (P.T.A.B. July 20, 2016). For example, in Kingston Tech. Co. v. Polaris
`
`Innovations Ltd., after Petitioner put forth testimony that the prior art taught
`
`memory chips “connected in a series,” Patent Owner responded with expert
`
`testimony that the prior art memory chips were not connected in series. IPR2016-
`
`
`
`8
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`01623, Paper 7 at 26-28 (P.T.A.B Feb. 15, 2017). In deciding to institute, the
`
`Board held that, although Patent Owner’s evidence “raises a genuine issue of
`
`material fact” as to how the memory chips are connected, “we must view the
`
`evidence in the light most favorable to the petitioner.” Id. at 28 (citing to 37 C.F.R.
`
`§ 42.108(c)). See also Realtime Data LLC, v. Oracle Int’l Corp., IPR2016-00695,
`
`Paper 8 at 18 (P.T.A.B. Sept. 13, 2016) (instituting after resolving in Petitioner’s
`
`favor a “genuine issue of material fact as to whether [the prior art] teaches or
`
`suggests [the disputed claim element],” as required by § 42.108(c)).
`
`In each of these cases, the Board instituted trial after resolving a factual
`
`question of whether a person of ordinary skill would understand the prior art as
`
`teaching a particular claim element. In the present case, the Board should have
`
`done the same, as Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence creates a factual issue that
`
`would be best resolved at trial, with the benefit of a full record. See Amendments
`
`to the Rules of Practice for Trials Before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, 81
`
`Fed. Reg. 18750, 18755 (Apr. 1, 2016) (explaining that the reasoning behind
`
`§ 42.108(c) is “so that petitioner will have an opportunity to cross-examine [Patent
`
`Owner’s] declarant during the trial.”)
`
`B.
`The Board erred to the extent it substituted its own understanding
`of Salami for the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art
`In the portion of the Decision addressing the “perceptual weighting filter”
`9
`
`
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`element, the Board states that “[w]e discern no teaching or suggestion in this text
`
`of Salami that the preemphasized signal is used on a perceptual weighting filter.”
`
`Inst. Dec. 19. To the extent the Board substituted its own understanding of Salami
`
`for the understanding of one of ordinary skill in the art, Petitioner respectfully
`
`submits that doing so constitutes error in the context of this proceeding.
`
`“[A]lthough the Board’s expertise appropriately plays a role in interpreting record
`
`evidence,” “in the context of a contested case, it is impermissible for the Board to
`
`base its factual findings on its expertise, rather than on evidence in the record.”
`
`Brand, 487 F.3d at 869. Further, the Federal Circuit recognizes that “when the
`
`technology is complex and ‘beyond the comprehension of laypersons,’ expert
`
`testimony is ‘sometimes essential.’” Synopsys, Inc. v. Mentor Graphics Corp., 814
`
`F.3d 1309, 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (internal quotations removed); see also Perfect
`
`Web Techs., Inc. v. InfoUSA, Inc., 587 F.3d 1324, 1330 (Fed. Cir. 2009) (“If the
`
`relevant technology were complex, the court might require expert opinions.”).
`
`Here, because Salami’s teachings are both disputed and complex2, Petitioner
`
`
`2 Dr. Cohen testified that the level of ordinary skill in the art is “(i) a Master’s of
`
`Science (M.S.) degree in Electrical Engineering or equivalent training, and (ii) at
`
`least three to five years of relevant industry experience.” Ex-1003, ¶ 26.
`
`
`
`10
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`respectfully submits that it is impermissible for the Board to ignore evidence as to
`
`the understanding of a person of skill in the art. Such evidence is essential in order
`
`to determine whether Salami teaches the elements of the ’524 patent. For example,
`
`with respect to the “perceptual weighting filter” element, it is insufficient to read
`
`page 448 of Salami in isolation; the background knowledge of a person of ordinary
`
`skill in the art is required in order to appreciate its disclosure. See Synopsys, Inc.,
`
`814 F.3d at 1320. Accordingly, to the extent the Board relied on its own reading of
`
`Salami (“[w]e discern no teaching or suggestion in this text . . .” Inst. Dec. 19),
`
`Petitioner respectfully submits that such reliance constitutes error warranting
`
`rehearing. See Brand, 487 F.3d at 870-71 (reversing the Board upon a finding that
`
`it “improperly substituted its own opinion for evidence of the knowledge of one of
`
`ordinary skill in the art.”)
`
`Moreover, because Patent Owner’s testimonial evidence created a material
`
`factual dispute in this case, § 42.108(c) requires that the Board rely not just on any
`
`expert testimony, but on Petitioner’s expert testimony. When Dr. Cohen’s
`
`testimony is properly credited, the factual issue of whether Salami teaches the
`
`claimed filter arrangement should be resolved in favor of Petitioner. The Board
`
`erred when it failed to do so.
`
`
`
`
`
`11
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`IV. CONCLUSION
`Because the Board overlooked the requirements of 37 C.F.R. § 42.108(c)
`
`and failed to properly credit Dr. Cohen’s expert testimony, Petitioner respectfully
`
`submits that rehearing is warranted.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`Dated: November 22, 2017
`
`HAYNES AND BOONE, LLP
`2323 Victory Avenue, Suite 700
`Dallas, Texas 75219
`Telephone: 214-651-5116
`
`
`
`
`
`/Andrew S. Ehmke/
`Andrew S. Ehmke
`Registration No. 50,271
`Lead Counsel for Petitioners
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`12
`
`

`

`
`Petitioner’s Request for Rehearing
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01244
` U.S. Patent No. 6,807,524
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`The undersigned certifies, in accordance with 37 C.F.R. § 42.6(e), that
`
`service was made on the Patent Owner as detailed below.
`
`Date of service November 22, 2017
`
`Manner of service Electronic Mail
`
`Documents served Petitioners’ Request for Rehearing Of Institution Decision
`Under 37 C.F.R. § 42.71(d)
`
`Persons served Dr. Gregory J. Gonsalves
`(gonsalves@gonsalveslawfirm.com)
`
`Masood Anjom
`(manjom@azalaw.com)
`
`Scott Clark
`(sclark@azalaw.com)
`
`AHMAD, ZAVITSANOS, ANAIPAKOS, ALAVI
`& MENSING P.C.
`1221 McKinney, Suite 2500
`Houston, TX 77010
`(713) 655-1101 (Reception)
`(713) 655-0062 (Facsimile)
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`/Andrew S. Ehmke/
`Andrew S. Ehmke
`Registration No. 50,271
`Lead Counsel for Petitioners
`
`
`
`13
`
`
`
`

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