`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
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`________________
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`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
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`________________
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`PRICELINE.COM LLC AND BOOKING.COM B.V.,
`Petitioners,
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`v.
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`DDR HOLDINGS, LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`Case No.: Unassigned
`INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 9,639,876
`________________
`
`
`DECLARATION OF PETER KENT IN SUPPORT OF PETITION FOR
`INTER PARTES REVIEW OF U.S. PATENT NO. 9,639,876
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`73740611.1
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`Page 1 of 143
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`PRICELINE.COM LLC et al.
`Exhibit 1002
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`
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`DECLARATION OF PETER KENT
`1. My name is Peter Kent. I am over the age of twenty-one (21) years, of
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`sound mind and capable of making the statements set forth in this Declaration. I am
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`competent to testify to matters set forth herein. All the facts and statements contained
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`herein are within my personal knowledge and they are, to the best of my knowledge,
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`true and correct.
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`2.
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`I have been retained on behalf of Priceline.com LLC and Booking.com
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`B.V. (“Petitioners”) to offer opinions relating to the invalidity of U.S. Patent No.
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`9,639,876 (the “’876 Patent”), U.S. Patent No. 9,043,228 (the “’228 Patent), U.S.
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`Patent No. 8,515,825 (the “’825 Patent”), and U.S. Patent No. 7,818,399 (the “’399
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`Patent”) (collectively, the “DDR Patents”), which are assigned to DDR Holdings,
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`LLC (“Patent Owner”), as well as opinions concerning references presented by
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`Petitioners in this inter partes review (“IPR”).
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`3.
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`I have reviewed the Declaration of Michael Shamos (the “Shamos
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`Declaration”) filed in support of the Petition for IPR2018-01011 (the “’011
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`Petition”), and I agree with the legal theories and analysis presented in the Shamos
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`Declaration and the ’011 Petition. Those legal theories and analysis are re-stated
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`below.
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`Education and Experience
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`4.
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`I am a Web-development, ecommerce, and SEO (“Search Engine
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`Optimization”) consultant and author, and I am the owner of Peter Kent Consulting
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`LLC. I provide ecommerce consulting to companies seeking to improve their online
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`business, including in the areas of search-engine optimization, online advertising,
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`Web development, and ecommerce-site “conversions,” and usability. My business
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`address is 399 East Bayaud Avenue, Denver Colorado 80209.
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`5.
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`I have worked extensively with computer technologies since early
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`1979, and have been involved in a wide range of capacities within the technology
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`business, beginning with operating computer equipment used for oil-field drilling-
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`engineering and drilling-optimization purposes; then, starting in 1981, working with
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`software-development teams (initially with the title of Systems Analyst), testing
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`hardware and software systems, documenting systems, designing user interfaces,
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`training users, as well as installing, maintaining, and repairing systems. Since the
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`mid-1980s, I have been involved in various additional functions in the technology
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`business, including writing computer books, writing video-training scripts, creating
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`websites, designing software, project managing software development, developing
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`online-marketing strategies, managing online-advertising and search-engine-
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`optimization campaigns, and more.
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`6.
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`I began working online (using mechanisms such as CompuServe™ and
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`bulletin-board systems) in 1984, and on the World Wide Web in 1993 (at a time
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`when the Web held only a few hundred websites); I first began building websites in
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`1994.
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`7.
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`I have extensive experience in the ecommerce arena. In 1997, I founded
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`Top Floor Publishing to sell Internet-related business books online through
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`Amazon.com as well as Top Floor Publishing’s own ecommerce store, which I
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`personally set up myself. I also founded BizBlast, an ecommerce-service provider,
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`funded by Softbank, one of the world’s largest venture-capital firms. BizBlast
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`provided small businesses with customized online stores operating on BizBlast’s
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`servers.
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`8.
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`I was also VP of Web Solutions for IC&C, a national ISP (Internet
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`Service Provider)—my department of around 60 people provided both Web hosting
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`and Web-development services to a wide range of businesses—and worked as VP
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`of Marketing for Indigio, a Web-applications development firm with clients such as
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`Avis, Budget Truck Rental, Budget Rent a Car, and Dex, one of the nation’s largest
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`Yellow Pages companies.
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`9.
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`I have provided consulting services to Amazon, Zillow, Avvo, Tower
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`Records, Lonely Planet, Honey Baked Ham, and literally hundreds of small and
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`medium companies, from real-estate agents to travel retailers, lawyers to non-profits.
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`10.
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`In addition to my industry background, I have written many books
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`about the Internet and technology in general. My publications include seven editions
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`of the Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Internet, five editions of Search Engine
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`Optimization for Dummies, and one edition of SEO for Dummies. I have also written
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`various books on Web-development and ecommerce issues, including The Official
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`Netscape JavaScript Book, The Official Netscape JavaScript 1.2 Book, the Official
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`Netscape JavaScript Programmer’s Reference, and How to Make Money Online
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`with eBay™, Yahoo!™, and Google™. I also wrote a book titled Poor Richard’s
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`Web Site: Geek-Free, Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site.
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`This book describes in great detail options available to the average business wishing
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`to create a website, including technology of the time related to ecommerce
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`(“shopping cart”) websites.
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`11.
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`I have also written hundreds of newspaper and periodical articles,
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`mostly in the area of technology and ecommerce, and have written and presented
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`four video courses for LinkedIn Learning/Lynda.com (on SEO and selling products
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`through the Amazon.com marketplace), and one Udemy.com course on SEO (with
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`22,000 students).
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`12.
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`I served as an expert witness in DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com L.P.,
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`et. al,1 a district court case related to U.S. Patent Nos. 6,629,135; 6,993,572 (“’572
`
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`1 DDR Holdings, LLC v. Hotels.com L.P., et. al, 954 F.Supp.2d 509 (E.D. Tex.
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`2013).
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`Patent”); and 7,818,399 (“’399 Patent). In my role as an expert witness in that
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`litigation, I provided expert reports regarding both non-infringement and invalidity
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`for Defendants Expedia, Travelocity, Internetwork Publishing Group [Orbitz],
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`International Cruise & Excursion [ICE], and Digital River. I understand that by the
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`time the district court proceeding had concluded, all of the Defendants had settled
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`except for National Leisure Group, Inc.2 and Digital River. Digital River only had
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`claims of the ‘572 Patent asserted against it. I testified at trial for Digital River only
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`about the asserted claims of the ’572 Patent. On appeal, the Federal Circuit analyzed
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`invalidity over Digital River’s Secure Sales System for the ‘572 Patent only. DDR
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`Holdings, LLC, v. Hotels.com, L.P., et al., 773 F.3d 1245 (2014). In its decision, the
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`Federal Circuit reached a conclusion similar to my own, finding the claims of the
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`‘572 Patent were invalid over Digital River’s Secure Sales System. Id., at 1253.
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`Additional details regarding my professional experience and publications, and cases
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`in which I have testified over the last four years, are set forth in my curriculum vitae,
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`attached as Appendix 1 to this declaration.
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`13.
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`I am familiar with the knowledge and capabilities of a person of ordinary skill
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`in the art (POSITA) in the area of Web page development/design for electronic
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`commerce and affiliate marketing systems. Specifically, I am familiar with the
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`2 I did not serve as an expert witness for National Leisure Group, Inc.
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`understandings of one of ordinary skill in the art prior to and during the period in
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`which the ’876 Patent was allegedly invented, and my testimony herein when
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`referring to one of ordinary skill, and what was known in the art, refers to that period.
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`Compensation
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`14.
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`I am being compensated at a rate of $550.00 per hour for my work by
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`the Petitioners for my assistance with their petition for Inter Partes Review (“IPR”)
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`of the ’876 Patent and, specifically, for my time spent reviewing documents in
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`association with the IPR and in preparing my testimony. Additionally, I am not,
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`and have never been, an employee of Petitioners, and my compensation is not
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`dependent upon the outcome of this proceeding or the opinions that I express.
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`Technology Background
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`15. While the overview touches on a number of technology issues, it is out
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`of necessity that only a brief overview is provided in this declaration. I am prepared
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`to explain these technological principles as they relate to the ’876 Patent in further
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`detail should I be asked to do so.
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`16.
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`In the section that follows, I discuss some of the general principles that
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`are pertinent to the invalidity of the DDR Patents and of the related art.
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`A. Historical Evolution of Web-Based Commerce Systems
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`17. The modern, public Internet dates to 1993, when the Government began
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`permitting its commercial use. As the number of Internet users increased, businesses
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`saw an opportunity to serve them, and by 1994 many new ecommerce companies
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`were launched, such as CDnow.com.
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`18. Amazon.com took its first order in 1995, by which time the ecommerce
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`revolution was well under way. Significantly, 1994/1995 saw the beginning of a
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`significant ecommerce-service market, in which companies began providing
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`software products and services to merchants in order to assist them in doing business
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`online, such as “shopping cart” software, transaction-processing software, and
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`ecommerce Web hosting.
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`19. For instance, Viaweb was founded in 1995, providing ecommerce
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`software and hosting, enabling small merchants to set up ecommerce sites with little
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`or no technical knowledge. The founder of Viaweb had been inspired by another
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`company, marketplaceMCI (owned by the telecommunications company, MCI)
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`which had started operations the year before serving mostly large companies. Both
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`firms were ecommerce outsourcing companies; that is, a merchant would contract
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`with these companies to operate the ecommerce systems required to run an online
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`store on the merchant’s behalf. Many merchants would maintain their own websites
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`elsewhere, but let the outsource provider manage the more complicated ecommerce
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`component for them.
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`B.
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`Ecommerce and Affiliate Marketing Systems
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`20. Very soon after ecommerce took off on the Internet, entrepreneurs and
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`merchants realized that applying a very old offline concept to online commerce
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`would be helpful: that is, paying sales commissions to third parties who generated
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`sales for a merchant. The concept of a sales commission is a familiar one, and thus
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`it was a natural extension to pay commissions for online sales. Commonly known
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`as affiliate marketing (though the world’s largest system, owned by Amazon.com,
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`actually uses the term associate rather than affiliate), the concept is simple. If
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`website owner A sends a visitor from his website to the ecommerce site owned by
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`website owner B, and if that visitor makes a purchase from B’s website, then B pays
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`A a commission on the sale. A merchant could multiply sales many times by having
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`affiliates market his products.
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`21. Affiliate marketing on the Internet dates to at least 1994, when CDnow
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`launched its first such program. However, some observers argue that online affiliate
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`marketing really dates to 1989, when PC Flowers & Gifts launched a store on the
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`Prodigy online network, and paid Prodigy a commission on all sales. In January of
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`1996, the founder of PC Flowers & Gifts filed for an affiliate-related patent, U.S.
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`Patent No. 6,141,666 (“’666 Patent”)3, and in July of that year Amazon.com
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`launched its affiliate program, which would eventually recruit over a million
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`affiliates.
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`C.
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`Site Cobranding and Design Matching
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`22. One issue that arose soon after online activities began was that of brand
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`identification. Web pages have a definitive look and feel, as do physical stores, and
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`the customer must be given a consistent online experience. If an affiliate sells the
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`products of many different merchants, it is critical for the customer to believe that
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`he is shopping at the affiliate, not at the individual stores of multiple merchants.
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`Otherwise, the affiliate’s identity would be lost. It was therefore common for an
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`affiliate to display product web pages using the affiliate’s consistent look and feel,
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`even if the product information was being provided from web servers belonging to
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`different merchants.
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`23. Thus, very early on, as companies began splitting functions between
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`Web servers, they would serve pages having the same design from the various
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`3 The ’666 Patent was applied in a rejection against claims of the ’399 Patent, to
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`which the ’876 Patent claims priority, and Patent Owner traversed the rejections
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`asserting, in various ways, that the ’666 Patent did not disclose an outsource
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`provider.
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`servers, and when ecommerce service providers began providing hosted ecommerce
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`services to companies that already had websites, it was clear that customization was
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`necessary so that visitors to the site would encounter a consistent look and feel. In
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`addition, the concept of design matching was apparent to companies involved in
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`affiliate marketing very early on; Company A could sell its products through an
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`online store that appeared to be on Company B’s website, and pay Company B a
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`sales commission. Company A could easily operate hundreds, if not thousands, of
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`customized stores for hundreds or thousands of different websites, and each store
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`could match the appearance of the associated website.
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`24. The inventors of the DDR Patents were not the first to come up with
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`the idea of design matching or providing a consistent online interface or, as the
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`patents-in-suit describe it, maintaining look and feel. For example, as explained
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`below, certain claims of the ’572 Patent, of which the ’876 Patent is a continuation,
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`were found by the Federal Circuit to be anticipated over Digital River’s Secure Sales
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`System (DR SSS). Digital River was in the business of managing software sales and
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`software downloads for software publishers, wholesalers, and retailers and its DR
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`SSS was publicly operating at least as early as April 1997. The DR SSS is an
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`outsource ecommerce system that provides all ecommerce functions for the sale of
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`software. Links from a software publisher’s website would point to pages on the
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`DR SSS server. Clicking one of these links would load a page from the DR SSS
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`server into the visitor’s Web browser, but, as the pages are customized to match the
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`referring site, visitors would be unaware that the new pages were, in fact, coming
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`from a separate ecommerce server. Digital River advertised, and a person of
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`ordinary skill in the art would have understood, that the DR SSS enabled “the entire
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`transaction [to] take[] place in the selling environment you’ve created, surrounded
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`by the look and feel of your identity, with your products presented the way you want
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`them presented . . . customers simply hit the purchase icon at your site and the whole
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`process unfolds smoothly. There’s no sensation of being suddenly hustled off to
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`another location.” December 1997 Website.
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`25.
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`In fact, the inventors of the DDR Patents appear to have derived their
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`idea, at least in part, from a company called e-Merchant Group, Inc. For example, I
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`have reviewed a document titled “MicroShopsTM Business Plan”, which references
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`two of the inventors named in the DDR Patents (e.g., Delano Ross, Jr. and Joseph
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`Michaels) on the first page. I understand that MicroShops was a predecessor system
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`to the Nexchange system disclosed in the ’876 Patent. The MicroShops Business
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`Plan identifies e-Merchant Group as a competitor and describes e-Merchant Group’s
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`system as follows, as:
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`e-Merchant Group’s technology creates a mall-like template that
`allows various merchants and manufacturers to sell their
`products within a consistent online interface. Websites that wish
`to create a private label store can select from e-Merchant
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`Group’s list of merchant clients and build a customized, co-
`branded store by e-Merchant Group. e-Merchant Group can
`handle all order and payment processing, including credit card
`transactions, and can even take responsibility for warehousing
`and order fulfillment through e-Merchant Group partners.
`
`In many ways, e-Merchant Group offers a very similar service to
`that offered by MicroShopsTM. The company’s private label
`stores concept bears great similarity to MicroShopsTM and the
`value propositions they present to merchants and manufacturers
`closely resemble those offered by MicroShopsTM. However, e-
`Merchant Group has built an extremely limited number of
`private label stores and has chosen to focus only on merchants
`with two industries: toys and outdoor gear.4
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`D. Outsourced Web Hosting and Ecommerce Hosting
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`26. At the time of the alleged invention, hosting merchant sites on an
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`outsourced Web server was not novel; it was quite simply the norm. That is, the vast
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`majority of companies had their websites, and the ecommerce functions of their
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`websites, hosted by third-party, outsource companies known as Web-hosting
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`companies and ecommerce hosting companies. This was necessary because most
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`companies simply did not maintain their own server farms.
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`4 Appendix 2 - MicroShopsTM Business Plan, at 46-47.
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`27. The use of outsourcing companies was not simply well known to one
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`skilled in the art by early 1997—the first Web-hosting companies date to at least
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`1994—but was the most common way of setting up a website. Relatively few
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`companies set up and managed their own Web servers, for either basic informational
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`sites or for more complicated, transactional, ecommerce sites, because of the
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`resulting expense and complexity. It was—and remains to this day—simpler and
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`cheaper to outsource these functions. In fact, it was well known in 1997 that setting
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`up an ecommerce site was “a huge pain in the butt” (see Digital River Brochure, at
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`page 2), and thus should be left to the experts.
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`28. Ecommerce hosting began at least as early as July, 1995, as can be seen
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`from the original business plan for Viaweb,5 and was well known and widely
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`available by early in 1997. For instance, one ecommerce-software developer, iCat,
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`announced in April 1997 that it was working with 250 partner “Web development
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`and Internet hosting companies”; that is, companies using its software to outsource
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`ecommerce functions for businesses wishing to sell products online.6
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`5http://paulgraham.com/vwplan.html
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`6https://www.thefreelibrary.com/iCat+Electronic+Commerce+Suite+3.0+ships-
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`a019351856
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`29. Late in 1996 and early in 1997, I wrote a book called Poor Richard’s
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`Web Site: Geek-Free Commonsense Advice on Building a Low-Cost Web Site. This
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`book explained to companies wishing to do business online just how to do that, based
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`on my experiences since late 1993.
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`30. On January 31, 1997, I sent a chapter to the initial publisher (Que
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`Computer Books7) titled Where to Put Your Web Site. This chapter contained
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`various options, but I warned my readers that they should not set up their own Web
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`server but rather should use the services of an outsource company—a Web-hosting
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`company. (“If you don’t know what it takes to set up a Web server, don’t try it! . . .
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`It’s obvious by now which method I think is the most suitable in most cases: you
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`should set up a site with your own domain name at a Web-hosting company.”)
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`31. Another chapter, titled “Taking Orders Online,” advises readers to set
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`up “shopping cart” software, and states: “Your Web-hosting company may already
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`have such a system available for use. They may be using one of the free CGI scripts,
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`or perhaps have an arrangement with a company, such as WebMate, that is licensing
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`shopping-cart software to Web-hosting companies and ISPs.” It also explains that
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`7 Although originally planned for publication by Que, the book was eventually
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`published by my own publishing company, Top Floor Publishing.
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`businesses could find their own ecommerce software and install it on their Web
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`server, which the book recommended should be an outsourced Web server.
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`32. The book also listed a number of shopping-cart systems readers could
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`use. One, for instance, was a system named ShopSite Manager. The publisher of
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`this software, iCentral, provided hosting services for companies wanting to
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`outsource the creation and management of their shopping-cart systems (“We offer
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`hosting for ShopSite software merchants. Everything you need for your site,
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`including web site development and technical support.”8) The company claimed that
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`by September 26th, 1996, it was already hosting ecommerce sites for “over 200
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`merchants.”9
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`33.
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`It was common by 1997 for companies setting up online stores to work
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`with two outsourcing companies; one to host their primary, informational website
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`and one to host the ecommerce portion of the site. For instance, in November, 1996
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`Amnesty
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`International opened
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`its online store hosted by ViaWeb
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`(at
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`8 https://web.archive.org/web/19961106085510/http://icentral.com:80/
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`9 https://web.archive.org/web/19961106085726fw_/http://icentral.com:80/press/
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`http://www.ishops.com/aipubs/).10 However, Amnesty International hosted its
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`primary, informational website, elsewhere, on the Amnesty.org domain name.11
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`34.
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`It was natural for companies to split their sites between informational
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`and shopping-cart sites, due to the complexity of setting up and managing shopping-
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`cart sites. However, many companies wanted all their Web pages, whether on a
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`simple Web-hosting outsource server or on the shopping-cart outsource server, to
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`appear to be hosted on a single site.
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`35. For example, Aardvark Cycles had a website identified using the
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`domain name AardvarkCycles.com12; however, it also set up a store hosted by
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`iCentral on the ShopSite.com domain in 199613. The company had the same logo
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`on both sites14; the underlying code of these archived pages shows that both sites
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`10 https://web.archive.org/web/19970103071227/http://www.ishops.com:80/aipubs/
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`11 https://web.archive.org/web/19961223044657/http://www.amnesty.org:80/
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`12 https://web.archive.org/web/19970109212349/http://aardvarkcycles.com:80/
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`13 https://web.archive.org/web/19970110135511/http://www.shopsite.com:80/
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`aardvark/index.html
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`14 The WayBackMachine often does not save all components of a Web page;
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`however, the page on shopsite.com contains code inserting aardvarklogo.gif into
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`the page, the same file used on AardvarkCycle.com.
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`contained an image, below and to the right of the logo, named ad.fiber.jpg; both had
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`a smaller logo in the top-left corner of the page, little.bluelogo.125.gif; both had the
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`same navigation links on the left side of the page (on the ShopSite.com server
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`pointing back to the AardvarkCycles.com server); both had the same footer text and
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`links at the bottom of the page; both used the same background image (blueback.gif);
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`and so on.
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`E. Common Features of Ecommerce Websites
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`36. The DDR Patents use a variety of Web-design terms that merit
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`explanation.
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`HTML
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`37. The DDR Patents describe the use of HTML to create Web pages.
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`HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a human readable coding language with
`
`which a Web designer can create Web pages. When a Web browser loads a Web
`
`page, it loads the HTML “instructions” that tell the browser how to display
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`(“render”) the Web page and include such information as the background color of
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`the page, the text that will appear in the page, the color of the text and the typeface
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`used, where images should be placed, a background image or a background color for
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`the Web page, and so on. It is a set of instructions to the browser that describes the
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`“page layout.”
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`38. By the time of the alleged invention of the DDR Patents, the use of
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`HTML was well understood by Web designers; indeed, it was not possible to create
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`Web pages without an understanding of HTML. Furthermore, the idea of re-using
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`HTML code from one page on other pages within the same website—or even on
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`different websites—was not a novel concept or difficult task; rather, it was
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`something that any Web designer could and routinely did implement.
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`Headers & Footers
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`39.
`
`It was common in Web development at the time of the alleged invention
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`of the DDR Patents, and remains so today, for a Web page to have a “header” and a
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`“footer.” (In fact, it is more common for Web pages to contain these features than
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`not to contain them.)
`
`40. The term “header” refers to the top portion of a Web page, which
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`typically contains the name of the website or the company that owned the website;
`
`a company logo (usually either centered in the middle of the header or on the left of
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`the header); and other components such as a phone number and contact email
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`address. The header also frequently contains several links to other pages within the
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`site; this collection of links is known in the Web-design business as a “navbar”
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`(navigation bar).
`
`41. The term “footer” refers to the bottom portion of a Web page, which
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`frequently contains elements such as a copyright notice, more links to Web pages
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`within the site, perhaps links to other websites owned by the site owner or partner
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`sites, contact information, and so on.
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`42. Headers and footers were typically “site-wide.” That is, a Web designer
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`would create one header layout and one footer layout, and then use the same layout
`
`on all pages within the site; regardless of which page in the site a visitor was viewing,
`
`he or she would see the same information at the top and bottom of each page, and
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`would be provided with the same “navigation” options, thus creating a consistent
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`look and feel.
`
`43. Any Web designer would have known how to create a header and a
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`footer that could be used on all the pages of the website, or even on different
`
`websites.
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`Navigation Links
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`44.
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`In several claims, the DDR Patents refer to “navigation links.”
`
`45. The World Wide Web (WWW) is based on the use of “hyperlinks”
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`(also known as “links”) to assist users in loading pages; the WWW is a “web” of
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`pages linked together. In fact, it is the hyperlinks that create the “web” by allowing
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`a user to move from one page to another by clicking links. A link is a mechanism
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`by which a Web designer can associate one page with another, and by which a user
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`may view the referenced page. Links are most commonly “activated” through the
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`use of a computer mouse; the user points at a link in a Web page and clicks the
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`mouse button to because the browser to request and load the referenced page.
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`46. Links can be with associated various different objects within a Web
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`page (that is, different objects may be “hyperlinked”). A link may be associated
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`with an image displayed within the page, or on a piece of text—one or more words—
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`within the page. (These are the two most commonly “linked” elements in a Web
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`page, though links may be added to other objects, such as videos.) So, for example,
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`the Web designer creating Page X could put a link on an image in that page
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`referencing Page Y; a user viewing Page X may point at the image and click the
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`mouse button to load Page Y.
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`Left-Hand Navigation
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`47.
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`It was very common at the time of the alleged invention of the DDR
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`Patents to have a “left-hand navbar”; that is, a collection of links in a box on the left
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`side of Web pages, effectively serving as a table of contents. This collection of links
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`was typically placed onto all the various Web pages within a website. The links in
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`the navbar would typically be used by site visitors to load different areas of a website
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`and commonly needed Web pages, such as a Contact Us page, an About Us page,
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`and so on. A left-hand navbar would likely be considered a primary element to carry
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`over if one were to design a Web page to maintain the appearance of another website.
`
`Company Logos
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`48.
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`It was common in Web development at the time of the alleged invention
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`of the DDR Patents, and remains so today, for Web pages owned by companies to
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`include the company logo image at the top of the Web page, in the page header. This
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`logo would typically be in the middle of the header, or on the left side of the header.
`
`49. The company logo itself was frequently “hyperlinked”; that is, using
`
`the HTML code that formats the page, a hyperlink was associated with the logo
`
`image, so that when a visitor to the website pointed at the logo with his or her mouse
`
`pointer and then clicked the mouse button, the Home page (the main page) of the
`
`website would be loaded into the browser.
`
`Web Page Data Storage
`
`50. A Web page is created through the use of computer files; typically an
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`HTML file (which is a form of text file containing the HTML instructions), perhaps
`
`Cascading Style Sheet files (text files containing more sophisticated page-layout
`
`instructions) and JavaScript files (text files containing programming instructions for
`
`interactive Web pages), graphic-image files for the pictures within the Web page,
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`and so on. (At the time of the alleged invention of the DDR Patents Cascading Style
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`Sheet files and JavaScript files were available but not frequently used.)
`
`51. The DDR Patents refer to the storage of these files. When a user
`
`requests a Web page (by entering the page address—the URL—into a Web browser
`
`or by clicking on a link referencing the page), a message is sent to the Web server
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`that hosts the Web page. The Web server retrieves the HTML file from its storage
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`and sends this page to the user’s browser.
`
`52. The user’s browser then reads the file. If the file references other files,
`
`then the browser requests them from the server, also. For example, perhaps the
`
`finished Web page (the “rendered” page, as it is known in the industry) will contain
`
`a composite of text and several images. The individual components do not need to
`
`come from the same Web server. The HTML will contain references to those
`
`images, instructions telling the browser where the images are stored and where they
`
`should be placed on the Web page. The browser will request those images from the
`
`Web server, and on receipt will insert the images into the Web page that is displayed
`
`in the user’s browser window.
`
`53. While all these files—the original HTML file and the associated image
`
`files—are often stored on hard-drive data storage inside the Web-server computer,
`
`or on hard-drive data storage connected to the Web-server computer, this is not
`
`always the case. One or more of those images, for instance, could be stored on a
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`completely separate computer, perhaps in a completely different area of the world.
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`(This is typically the case with advertising in Web pages; the images are loaded from
`
`a Web server owned by the advertising company; not the server, owned by the Web-
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`site owner, that delivered the HTML file to the server.)
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`Web-Based Ecommerce and Shopping Cart Technology
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`54. By the time of the alleged invention of the DDR Patents, Web-based
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`ecommerce and sh
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