throbber
Filed: August 24, 2017
`
`Filed on behalf of:
`Patent Owner Voip-Pal.com Inc.
`By: Kerry Taylor
`John M. Carson
`KNOBBE, MARTENS, OLSON & BEAR, LLP
`2040 Main Street, 14th Floor
`Irvine, CA 92614
`Tel.: (858) 707-4000
`Fax: (858) 707-4001
`Email:
`BoxDigifonica@knobbe.com
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`AT&T SERVICES, INC.
`
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`VoIP-PAL.COM, INC.,
`
`Patent Owner
`
`
`
`
`Case No. IPR2017-01384
`U.S. Patent 9,179,005
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`PATENT OWNER’S PRELIMINARY RESPONSE TO
`PETITION FOR INTER PARTES REVIEW
`
`
`
`
`

`

`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`Page No.
`
`I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 
`
`II. ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................... 4 
`
`A. 
`
`B. 
`
`C. 
`
`Introduction to Claimed Subject Matter .............................................. 4 
`
`Overview of Cited Art ......................................................................... 7 
`
`1. 
`
`2. 
`
`3. 
`
`Overview of Nadeau ................................................................. 7 
`
`Overview of Kelly ..................................................................... 9 
`
`Overview of Vaziri.................................................................. 11 
`
`Grounds 1 and 2 fail because the Petition fails to show how
`the combination of Nadeau and Kelly “produc[es] a public
`network routing message for receipt by the call controller,
`said public network routing message identifying a gateway
`to the public network” ....................................................................... 12 
`
`1. 
`
`2. 
`
`3. 
`
`The “routing instructions” in Nadeau do not identify
`a gateway to the public network ............................................. 14 
`
`The Petitioner’s assertion that the “routing
`instructions” in Nadeau “must” include an
`identification of the IP-PSTN Gateway is
`unsupported ............................................................................. 16 
`
`The Petitioner fails to explain how Nadeau would be
`modified such that a public network routing message
`is produced which identifies a gateway to the public
`network as recited in the claims .............................................. 21 
`
`a. 
`
`Petitioner proposes to use the call packet
`produced by Kelly’s gateway selection process
`as routing instructions in Nadeau ................................. 24 
`
`-i-
`
`

`

`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`(cont’d)
`
`Page No.
`
`b. 
`
`Petitioner fails to explain how modifying
`Nadeau’s SLC to produce a call packet as
`taught by Kelly, leads to “producing a public
`network routing message for receipt by [a] call
`controller, said public network routing
`message identifying a gateway to [a] public
`network” as claimed ..................................................... 25 
`
`i. 
`
`ii. 
`
`The Petition has not indicated where the
`call packet would be sent ................................... 26 
`
`The Petition fails to explain how the call
`packet would be modified such that the
`proposed combination produces a public
`network routing message for receipt by
`the call controller, ... identifying a
`gateway to the public network ........................... 27 
`
`D.  Ground 2 fails because the Petitioner has failed to identify a
`structure in Nadeau that is functionally equivalent to the
`“means” recited in Claims 50 and 73 ................................................ 30 
`
`E. 
`
`The Petitioner’s rationale for combining Nadeau-Kelly is
`simplistic and incomplete, and is not fairly based upon the
`cited arts’ teaching ............................................................................. 35 
`
`1. 
`
`2. 
`
`Petitioner overlooks that Nadeau does not need
`Kelly’s solution to perform least cost routing, thus
`there is no motivation to combine ........................................... 37 
`
`Petitioner fails to explain why a POSITA would have
`been motivated to modify Nadeau in a manner that is
`unsupported by the cited art’s teachings ................................. 41 
`
`-ii-
`
`

`

`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`(cont’d)
`
`Page No.
`
`3. 
`
`Petitioner’s analysis of the modifications required is
`too truncated and simplistic to establish a reasonable
`expectation of success ............................................................. 46 
`
`III. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 51 
`
`
`
`-iii-
`
`

`

`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
`Page No(s).
`
`Ariosa Diagnostics v. Verinata Health, Inc.,
`805 F.3d 1359 (Fed. Cir. 2015) .......................................................................... 36
`
`Dynamic Drinkware, LLC v. Nat’l Graphics, Inc.,
`800 F.3d 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2015) .......................................................................... 17
`
`Innogenetics, N.V. v. Abbott Laboratories,
`512 F.3d 1363 ..................................................................................................... 36
`
`Interconnect Planning Corporation v. Feil
`774 F.2d 1132 (1985) .................................................................................... 44, 45
`
`Ex parte Kastelewicz,
`Appeal 2008-004808 (June 9, 2009) ............................................................ 39, 40
`
`Kinetic Concepts, Inc., v. Smith and Nephew, Inc.,
`688 F. 3d. 1342 (Fed. Cir. 2012) ........................................................................ 40
`
`In re Kotzab,
`217 F.3d 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2000) .................................................................... 35, 36
`
`KSR Int’l Co. v. Teleflex Inc.,
`550 U.S. 398 (2007) ...................................................................................... 36, 41
`
`In re McLaughlin,
`443 F.2d 1392 (C.C.P.A. 1971) .......................................................................... 51
`
`In re NuVasive, Inc.,
`842 F.3d 1376 (Fed. Cir. 2016) .......................................................................... 36
`
`PAR Pharma., Inc. v. TWI Pharmas., Inc.,
`773 F.3d 1186 (Fed. Cir. 2014) .......................................................................... 17
`
`Personal Web Technologies, LLC v. Apple, Inc.,
`848 F.3d 987 (Fed. Cir. 2017) ...................................................................... 35, 36
`
`-iv-
`
`

`

`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(cont’d)
`
`Page No(s).
`
`In re Robertson,
`169 F.3d 743, 49 U.S.P.Q.2d 1949 (Fed. Cir. 1999) .......................................... 18
`
`Rohm & Haas Co. v. Brotech Corp.,
`127 F.3d 1089 (Fed. Cir. 1997) .......................................................................... 47
`
`Stryker Corp. v. Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc.,
`IPR2015-00764, Paper 13 (P.T.A.B. Sep. 2, 2015) ............................................ 40
`
`Tietex Int’l, Ltd. v. Precision Fabrics Group, Inc.,
`IPR2014-01248, Paper 39 (P.T.A.B., Jan. 27, 2016) ......................................... 17
`
`In re Warsaw Orthopedic, Inc.,
`832 F.3d 1327 (Fed. Cir. 2016) .......................................................................... 36
`
`In re Wesslau,
`353 F.2d 238, 53 C.C.P.A. 746 (1965) ......................................................... 42, 43
`
`OTHER AUTHORITIES
`
`35 U.S.C. § 103 .............................................................................................. 2, 14, 43
`
`35 U.S.C. § 112 .................................................................................................... 3, 35
`
`35 U.S.C. § 312 .................................................................................................. 22, 30
`
`35 U.S.C. § 313 .......................................................................................................... 1
`
`35 U.S.C. § 314 .......................................................................................................... 2
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.6 ....................................................................................................... 18
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.22 ............................................................................................... 22, 30
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.65 ......................................................................................... 18, 46, 47
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.104 ............................................................................................. 22, 30
`
`-v-
`
`

`

`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`(cont’d)
`
`Page No(s).
`
`37 C.F.R. § 42.107 ..................................................................................................... 1
`
`Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 77 Fed. Reg. .................................................... 47
`
`
`
`
`
`-vi-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 313, 37 C.F.R. § 42.107, and the Notice of Filing
`
`Date Accorded to Petition (Paper 3), dated May 24, 2017, Voip-Pal.com, Inc.
`
`(“Voip-Pal”) submits this Preliminary Response to the Petition for Inter Partes
`
`Review of U.S. 9,179,005 (the ’005 Patent) (“Petition,” Paper 1) by AT&T
`
`Services, Inc. (“AT&T”).
`
`I. INTRODUCTION
`
`Digifonica, a real party-in-interest to this proceeding and wholly owned
`
`subsidiary of Patent Owner Voip-Pal, was founded in 2004 with the vision that the
`
`Internet would be the future of telecommunications. As a startup company,
`
`Digifonica did not have existing customers or legacy systems. Instead, Digifonica
`
`had the opportunity to start from a blank slate. Digifonica employed top
`
`professionals in the open-source software community. Three Ph.D.s with various
`
`engineering backgrounds held the top positions at the Company. Digifonica’s
`
`engineers developed an innovative software solution for routing communications,
`
`which by the mid-2000s it implemented in four nodes spread across three
`
`geographic regions. Digifonica’s R&D efforts led to several patents, including
`
`U.S. Patent No. 9,179,005, which is the subject of the present proceeding.
`
`Petitioner challenges Claims 1, 24-26, 49, 50 and 73 of the ’005 Patent on
`
`two grounds:
`
`-1-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`1.
`
`Alleged obviousness of Claims 1, 24-26 and 49 under § 103(a) over
`
`U.S. Patent No. 6,240,449 to Nadeau (“Nadeau”) in view of U.S. Patent No.
`
`6,594,254 to Kelly (“Kelly”) (“Ground 1”).
`
`2.
`
`Alleged obviousness of Claims 50 and 73 under § 103(a) over Nadeau
`
`in view of Kelly and U.S. Patent No. 7,715,413 to Vaziri (“Vaziri”) (“Ground 2”).
`
`Petitioner also submitted a Declaration by Declarant James Bress Ex. 1003
`
`(“Declaration”).
`
`As Voip-Pal explains below, Petitioner’s arguments and assessments of the
`
`cited art fail to establish a reasonable likelihood that Petitioner would prevail as to
`
`its allegations, as required under 35 U.S.C. § 314(a). Accordingly, institution of
`
`this proceeding should be denied as to both asserted grounds.
`
`Petitioner’s principal ground that addresses independent Claims 1 and 26 is
`
`Nadeau in view of Kelly. This ground does not establish a reasonable likelihood
`
`that the claims will be found obvious because no combination of the references is
`
`shown to leads to all elements of the challenged independent claims. By way of
`
`example, neither Nadeau nor Kelly, nor their combination, discloses or suggests
`
`element [1c] of Claim 1, “when at least one of said calling attributes and at least a
`
`portion of said callee identifier meet a public network classification criterion,
`
`producing a public network routing message for receipt by the call controller, said
`
`public network routing message identifying a gateway to the public network.”
`
`-2-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`(emphasis added). Petitioner argues Nadeau’s Service Logic Controller (“SLC”)
`
`produces a routing message that necessarily identifies a gateway to the public
`
`network, and also argues in the alternative that Nadeau could be modified to
`
`produce a routing message that identifies a gateway to the public network as taught
`
`in Kelly’s use of a “call packet” to initiate calls. Petition at 16 (asserting Kelly’s
`
`“call packet” is “analogous to routing instructions”). However, Petitioner’s
`
`inherency argument is incorrect, and Petitioner failed to recognize that Kelly’s
`
`“call packet” cannot be used in Nadeau’s system. As explained below, even if
`
`Nadeau’s SLC were modified to produce Kelly’s “call packet”, the SLC would not
`
`only fail to practice the challenged claims, but it would produce an inoperative
`
`system. However, Petitioner fails to appreciate this, much less explain what
`
`further modifications would need to be made in order for the system to work.
`
`Petitioner also fails to establish a reasonable likelihood that independent
`
`Claim 50 will be found obvious because Petitioner failed to identify anything in the
`
`cited art that would be equivalent to the functionality identified by the Petitioner’s
`
`own claim construction (e.g., Block 269 of the ‘005 Patent). In fact, Nadeau-Kelly
`
`fails to provide the means-plus-function elements [50b] and [50c] recited in Claim
`
`50, as interpreted by the Petitioner under 35 U.S.C. § 112, Paragraph 6.
`
`Finally, a person of ordinary skill in the art viewing both Nadeau and Kelly
`
`would not have been motivated to combine Nadeau and Kelly as proposed by the
`
`-3-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`Petitioner in view of Kelly’s teaching. Specifically, Petitioner provides only a de
`
`minimis explanation for why one of ordinary skill would combine the references –
`
`“to further reduce the cost of routing over the PSTN” – without any explanation of
`
`why Kelly’s teachings would be expected to yield such an “improvement.”
`
`Petition at 16. This superficial reasoning overlooks the fact that Nadeau’s system
`
`already provided a path for reducing the cost of routing, which path is distinct from
`
`the path taught by Kelly. Petitioner’s basis for combining the references does not
`
`arise from the teachings of the references themselves, but instead only from the
`
`insight Petitioner imported from the claims.
`
`In view of the foregoing, the Petition fails to establish a reasonable
`
`likelihood that Claims 1, 24-26, 49, 50 and 73 of the ’005 Patent are unpatentable.
`
`Thus, the Board should not institute trial in this proceeding.
`
`II. ARGUMENT
`
`A.
`
`Introduction to Claimed Subject Matter
`
`Petitioner has directed most of its analysis to Claims 1 and 50, which recite:
`
`1. [1p] A process for producing a routing message for routing
`communications between a caller and a callee in a communication system,
`the process comprising:
`
`
`[1a] using a caller identifier associated with the caller to locate
`a caller dialing profile comprising a plurality of calling attributes
`associated with the caller;
`
`
`-4-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`[1b] when at least one of said calling attributes and at least a
`portion of a callee identifier associated with the callee meet private
`network classification criteria, producing a private network routing
`message for receipt by a call controller, said private network routing
`message identifying an address, on the private network, associated
`with the callee; and
`
`[1c] when at least one of said calling attributes and at least a
`portion of said callee identifier meet a public network classification
`criterion, producing a public network routing message for receipt by
`the call controller, said public network routing message identifying a
`gateway to the public network.
`
`
`[50p] A call routing controller apparatus for producing a
`50.
`routing message for routing communications between a caller and a
`callee in a communication system, the apparatus comprising:
`
`
`[50a] means for using a caller identifier associated with the
`caller to locate a caller dialing profile comprising a plurality of calling
`attributes associated with the caller; and
`
`[50b] means for, when at least one of said calling attributes and
`at least a portion of a callee identifier associated with the callee meet
`private network classification criteria, producing a private network
`routing message for receipt by a call controller, said private network
`routing message identifying an address, on the private network,
`associated with the callee; and
`
`[50c] means for, when at least one of said calling attributes and
`at least a portion of said callee identifier meet a public network
`classification criterion, producing a public network routing message
`for receipt by the call controller, said public network routing message
`identifying a gateway to the public network.
`
`
`
`By way of technology background, a public switched telephone network
`
`(PSTN) uses traditional telephone technology including dedicated telephone lines
`
`-5-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`from a service provider to transmit calls over a circuit-switched network. Voice
`
`over Internet protocol (VoIP) is used for the delivery of digital voice
`
`communications and multimedia sessions over Internet protocol (IP) networks,
`
`such as the Internet. Digital information delivered over IP networks is packetized,
`
`and transmission occurs as IP packets over a packet-switched network.
`
`The method of Claim 1 is directed to routing communications in a
`
`communication system. The method involves routing communications that meet
`
`“private network classification criteria” or “a public network classification
`
`criterion” based on at least one calling attribute and at least a portion of the callee
`
`identifier. However, when a communication meets a classification criterion, a
`
`routing message is produced. For example, if the public network classification
`
`criterion is met, the method further involves producing a public network routing
`
`message for receipt by the call controller, the public network routing message
`
`identifying a gateway to the public network, thereby identifying a particular
`
`gateway appropriate for communicating with the callee.
`
`Claim 50 recites subject matter generally similar to that recited in Claim 1,
`
`but in means plus function language.
`
`-6-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`B. Overview of Cited Art
`1. Overview of Nadeau
`Nadeau discloses a method and a system for managing communication
`
`sessions originating in either one of a telecommunications network, such as the
`
`PSTN network or a mobile telephone network, and a data communications network
`
`such as the Internet. Nadeau Abstract. Nadeau discloses that an Automatic Call
`
`Setup (ACS) service permits an improved usage of the Internet domain for calling
`
`purposes. Specifically the ACS service allows the establishment of a connection
`
`from a caller (subscriber) to a called party, transparently using whichever network
`
`(PSTN/Mobile, IP) is best, based on conditions specified by the service subscriber
`
`and external conditions. Nadeau at 6:16-23.
`
`A Service Logic Controller (SLC) 122 shown in Figure 1, provides
`
`Detection Point Functional Elements (DPFEs), such as the PSTN/Mobile network
`
`DPFE 106 and the Internet DPFE 114 with call processing instructions (Nadeau
`
`7:20-23). For example, Nadeau discloses that the Internet DPFE 114 is
`
`implemented as a VoIP client modified to support the ACS service. Id. at 12:34-39.
`
`-7-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`
`
`In order to provide the DPFEs with call processing instructions, the SLC
`
`consults a particular caller’s service profile, consisting in service logic as well as a
`
`list of conditions and events to be used to process the caller’s incoming calls.
`
`Nadeau at 7:23-27.
`
`-8-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`Upon reception of routing instructions from the SLC through a gateway
`
`functional element (GWFE), the DPFE will resume call processing according to
`
`the received instructions and route the incoming call directly to a DPFE or to the
`
`IP/PSTN GWFE 124 if needed. Nadeau at 7:5-9. The objective of the IP/PSTN
`
`GWFE 124 is to route calls between network domains. Id. at 8:39-42.
`
`2. Overview of Kelly
`Kelly discloses a method and apparatus for translating a domain name
`
`representing a telephone number into a network protocol address. Kelly Abstract.
`
`The network of Figure 2 illustrates a hybrid telecommunication environment
`
`including both a traditional switched telephone network as well as Internet and
`
`Intranet networks and apparatus bridging between the two. Kelly at 5:62-65.
`
`
`
`-9-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`For WebPhone client to GATEWAY to PSTN calls, a user enters a
`
`traditional phone number through the graphic user interface of the WebPhone client
`
`and establishes a call to the specified telephone exchange on a PSTN. Kelly at
`
`11:51-54. Upon receiving the desired telephone number the WebPhone client
`
`reverses the number and appends the carrier's domain name resulting in a hybrid
`
`telephone/domain name, e.g., having the form “4001-997-561-1.carrier.com”. Id. at
`
`12:7-11. The hybrid telephone number domain name is passed by the WebPhone
`
`client to in an acceptable format the name resolver protocol executing on a DNS
`
`name server on the TCIP/IP network. Id. at 12:3-14.
`
`Referring to Figure 6 (infra), a recursive process of resolving the telephone
`
`number domain name previously entered into the WebPhone client to the
`
`appropriate IP address of a gateway on a PSTN is illustrated. After step 12 of FIG.
`
`6, the call packet containing the entire telephone number domain name entry
`
`“4001.997.561.1.carrier.com” is then sent by the WebPhone 232C to initiate a call
`
`session to the IP address of the gateway, e.g., gateway 218C in FIG. 2 (supra), and
`
`the call is offered. The gateway 218C, depending on available resources, then
`
`evaluates the call packet data, responds accordingly by dialing 1-561-997-4001 and
`
`accepts the call. A call session is then established. Kelly at 13:22-29; 15:12-17.
`
`-10-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`
`
`3. Overview of Vaziri
`Vaziri discloses a multi-network exchange system having a first type
`
`network (PSTN) and a second type network (Internet) and a multi-network
`
`exchange bridge in communication with the first and second type networks for the
`
`transfer of electronic information signals (telephone calls) between the first and
`
`second type networks. Referring specifically to Figure 2, the Multi-Network
`
`Exchange System (MNES) includes one or more MNES bridges 55 and 97 that
`
`allow information in the form of voice or fax telephone calls to be exchanged
`
`between a PSTN network 90 and a digital communications network 85 such as the
`
`Internet, the MNES including a PSTN number translator for parsing dialed digits.
`
`Vaziri at 12:34-40, 29:25-36 and Figures 2 and 12.
`
`-11-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`C. Grounds 1 and 2 fail because the Petition fails to show how the
`combination of Nadeau and Kelly “produc[es] a public network routing
`message for receipt by the call controller, said public network routing
`message identifying a gateway to the public network”
`
`Claim 1 recites: “producing a public network routing message for receipt by
`
`[a] call controller, said public network routing message identifying a gateway to
`
`the public network” and independent claim 50 recites a similar element. Petitioner
`
`argues that Nadeau’s “routing instructions,” produced by Nadeau’s Service Logic
`
`Controller (“SLC”), are equivalent to a public network routing message. Petition
`
`at 27-28. Petitioner then raises two different arguments as to how the “routing
`
`instructions” purportedly identify a gateway to the public network. Petition at 28.
`
`As detailed below, both arguments fail.
`
`First, Petitioner argues that although Nadeau does not explicitly state that the
`
`routing instructions identify the IP-PSTN Gateway to which the call is routed, the
`
`routing instructions must include such an identification to complete the call.
`
`Petition at 28 (emphasis added). As set out below, Petitioner’s argument fails
`
`because, contrary to Petitioner’s assertions, it is not inherent that the routing
`
`instructions in Nadeau must identify the IP-PSTN Gateway to which the call is
`
`routed. The Petitioner’s inherency argument fails for at least the reason that, as
`
`admitted by Petition at 15, Nadeau discloses only one IP-PSTN Gateway to route
`
`the call from the VoIP client to the PSTN, and so other components of Nadeau,
`
`-12-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`such as Nadeau’s VoIP client device may be preprogrammed with the IP address of
`
`the one IP-PSTN Gateway, in advance of receiving any routing instructions.
`
`Petitioner apparently recognizes the weakness of its own inherency
`
`argument because Petitioner proposes a second, alternative, argument that Kelly
`
`teaches a gateway selection process that includes the IP address of the gateway to
`
`initiate a call session (Petition at 28) and that it was obvious to modify the SLC of
`
`Nadeau to perform the gateway selection process taught in Kelly. Id.
`
`However, Petitioner’s second argument also fails because, as set out below,
`
`(a) combining the references as proposed by the Petitioner would be inoperative
`
`unless other changes are made, and (b) Petitioner has failed to specify how the
`
`proposed combination of Nadeau and Kelly would be made such that the
`
`combination produces “a public network routing message for receipt by [a] call
`
`controller, said public network routing message identifying a gateway to the [a]
`
`public network,” as recited in the claims.
`
`In particular, Petitioner proposes to modify Nadeau’s Service Logic
`
`Controller (“SLC”) to, inter alia, produce Kelly’s “call packet” (see Petition at 16,
`
`27-28), but, as detailed below, simply modifying Nadeau’s SLC to produce Kelly’s
`
`“call packet” as proposed by Petitioner, without further changes, would not result
`
`in routing a call to the public network as asserted by Petitioner. As set out below,
`
`Petitioner has not described, and it is not clear, what further modifications of
`
`-13-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`Nadeau’s SLC and/or Kelly’s “call packet” would be necessary in order for
`
`Petitioner’s proposed combination to actually perform the above-noted step recited
`
`in the claims.
`
`Thus, Grounds 1 and 2 fail because Petitioner has failed to demonstrate that
`
`the proposed combination of Nadeau and Kelly would perform the above-noted
`
`claim element. In particular, the “routing instructions” in Nadeau do not identify a
`
`gateway to the public network, and the Petitioner has not shown how the proposed
`
`modification of Nadeau with the teachings of Kelly would result in a public
`
`network routing message identifying a gateway to the public network.
`
`Accordingly, the information presented in the Petition does not demonstrate
`
`a reasonable likelihood that the claims are unpatentable under 35 U.S.C. § 103(a)
`
`having regard to the cited references.
`
`1.
`
`The “routing instructions” in Nadeau do not identify a gateway to
`the public network
`
`The Petition asserts that Nadeau discloses a “public network routing
`
`message,” based on Nadeau’s disclosure of “routing instructions” generated by the
`
`SLC 122, and also asserts that the IP-PSTN Gateway 124 represents the “gateway
`
`to the public network” recited in the claims of the ’005 Patent. Petition at 28.
`
`However, there is no disclosure in Nadeau that the “routing instructions” generated
`
`by the SLC 122 identify IP-PSTN Gateway 124 and a POSITA would understand
`
`-14-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`that there is no need to identify the Gateway 124 if the VoIP client 114 in Nadeau
`
`only uses one gateway.
`
`The Petitioner has admitted that “Nadeau does not explicitly state that the
`
`routing instructions identify the IP-PSTN Gateway …”. Petition at 28 (emphasis
`
`added). The Petition also admits that “[t]he system in Nadeau, however, includes
`
`only one gateway to route the call to the PSTN …” Petition at 15 (emphasis
`
`added). Because there is only one gateway to the PSTN to route the call,
`
`identification of the IP-PSTN Gateway does not need to occur by the SLC when
`
`the call is classified. For example, the VoIP client 114 can be preprogrammed
`
`with information identifying the IP-PSTN Gateway. Alternatively, Internet ACS
`
`Gateway 116 can be preprogrammed with such information. Thus, there is no need
`
`for the “routing instructions” from the SLC 122 to identify IP-PSTN Gateway 124.
`
`Nadeau uses the term “routing instructions” and “routing information”
`
`interchangeably. See for example Nadeau at 9:38-40 ("The ACS system will then
`
`complete the call according to the routing instructions stored by the user”)
`
`(emphasis added) and 9:56-10:20 (“The Subscriber Database 204 as shown in FIG.
`
`2 contains a record for each such subscriber, … such as: … routing information;”)
`
`(emphasis added). Thus, while Nadeau does not provide any explicit disclosure as
`
`to the contents of the “routing instructions” used for an IP to PSTN call, Nadeau
`
`does disclose the contents of “routing information” stored by the SLC 122 and
`
`-15-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`Nadeau does not teach that “routing instructions” would include anything other
`
`than the contents of Nadeau’s “routing information”. Nadeau discloses that the
`
`“routing information” stored in a subscriber’s directory entry for PSTN routing is
`
`simply a “directory number (DN)” of the called individual, whereas the entry for
`
`Internet destinations is “an IP address or pseudo-address.” Nadeau at 9:20-23.
`
`This means that Nadeau’s “routing instructions” for public network routing is
`
`simply a directory number (DN). Thus, Nadeau does not disclose that anything
`
`identifying the IP-PSTN Gateway is required for Internet-to-PSTN routing.
`
`2.
`
`The Petitioner’s assertion that the “routing instructions” in
`Nadeau “must” include an identification of the IP-PSTN Gateway
`is unsupported
`
`As noted above, the Petitioner admits that Nadeau does not explicitly
`
`disclose that the “routing instructions” identify the IP-PSTN Gateway, and instead
`
`argues that such an identification is inherent. The Petition states that:
`
`Although Nadeau does not explicitly state that the routing instructions
`identify the IP-PSTN Gateway to which the call is routed, a POSITA
`knew that the routing instructions must include such an identification
`to complete the call. (EX1003 at ¶¶ 236–238.)
`
`The Petitioner’s latter assertion (i.e., “the routing instructions must
`
`include...”) is untrue. As explained above in Section 1, Nadeau suggests that a
`
`Petition at 28 (emphasis added)
`
`-16-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`directory number (DN) alone is the “routing information” required for a PSTN call
`
`and, as explained below, because there is only one IP-PSTN Gateway 124 in
`
`Nadeau used by the VoIP client 114 to make calls to the PSTN, there are working
`
`configurations of Nadeau where routing instructions need not identify the gateway.
`
`The Petitioner bears the burden of proving inherency by a preponderance of
`
`evidence. “[T]he burden of proof is on the petitioner to prove unpatentability by a
`
`preponderance of the evidence, and that burden never shifts to the patent owner.”
`
`Dynamic Drinkware, LLC v. Nat’l Graphics, Inc., 800 F.3d 1375, 1378 (Fed. Cir.
`
`2015). See also Tietex Int’l, Ltd. v. Precision Fabrics Group, Inc., IPR2014-
`
`01248, Paper 39 at 11 (Final Written Decision P.T.A.B., Jan. 27, 2016) (“[…]
`
`Petitioner must provide evidence establishing that the claimed [features] are
`
`inherent in the prior art...”. Thus, Patent Owner has no burden to prove that the
`
`alleged properties are not inherent in the cited art.
`
`To rely on inherency, Petitioner must prove that the missing claim
`
`limitations are necessarily present in Nadeau. “A party must, therefore, meet a
`
`high standard in order to rely on inherency to establish the existence of a [missing]
`
`claim limitation in the prior art in an obviousness analysis – the limitation at issue
`
`necessarily must be present, or the natural result of the combination of elements
`
`explicitly disclosed by the prior art.” PAR Pharma., Inc. v. TWI Pharmas., Inc.,
`
`773 F.3d 1186, 1195–96 (Fed. Cir. 2014). “To establish inherency, the extrinsic
`
`-17-
`
`

`

`IPR2017-01384
`AT&T v. Voip-Pal
`
`evidence ‘must make clear that the missing descriptive matter is necessarily
`
`present in the thing described in the reference, and that it would be so recognized
`
`by persons of ordinary skill. Inherency, however, may not be established by
`
`probabilities or possibilities. The mere fact that a certain thing may result from a
`
`given set of circumstances is not sufficient.’” In re Robertson, 169 F.3d 743, 745,
`
`49 U.S.P.Q.2d

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