`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`NETFLIX, INC.
`
`Petitioners
`
`v.
`
`UNILOC 2017 LLC
`
`Patent Owner
`
`IPR2020-00041
`
`PATENT 8,407,609
`
`PATENT OWNER RESPONSE TO PETITION
`
`PURSUANT TO 37 C.F.R. § 42.120
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`I.
`
`INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1
`
`II.
`
`OVERVIEW OF THE ’609 PATENT ............................................................ 1
`
`III. OVERVIEW OF PROSECUTION HISTORY OF THE ’609
`PATENT .......................................................................................................... 6
`
`IV. RELATED PROCEEDINGS .......................................................................... 9
`
`V.
`
`PETITIONER DOES NOT PROVE A REASONABLE
`LIKELIHOOD OF UNPATENTABILITY FOR ANY
`CHALLENGED CLAIM ................................................................................ 9
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`C.
`
`D.
`
`E.
`
`LEVEL OF ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART ................................ 10
`
`CLAIM CONSTRUCTION ................................................................ 10
`
`1.
`
`2.
`
`Claim Construction Standard ....................................................10
`
`Overview of District Court Claim Constructions .....................11
`
`Petitioner fails at least to prove its proposed Davis-Choi
`combination renders obvious limitations directed to the “timer
`applet,” such as those recited in the “receiving” step (Ground
`1) .......................................................................................................... 14
`
`Petitioner fails at least to prove its proposed Siler-Davis
`combination renders obvious limitations directed to the “timer
`applet,” such as those recited in the “receiving” step (Ground
`2) .......................................................................................................... 21
`
`The Petition fails at least to prove its proposed Siler-Davis
`combination renders obvious “wherein each provided
`webpage causes corresponding digital media presentation data
`to be streamed from a second computer system distinct from
`the first computer system directly to the user’s computer
`
`ii
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`independent of the first computer system” (Ground 2)....................... 23
`
`F.
`
`No Prima Facie Obviousness for Dependent Claims 2 and 3 ............. 28
`
`VI. APJS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONALLY APPOINTED PRINCIPAL
`OFFICERS ..................................................................................................... 28
`
`VII. CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 31
`
`CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE .......................................................................... i
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ................................................................................. ii
`
`
`
`iii
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`UNILOC’S EXHIBITS
`
`
`
`File History of ’609 Patent ........................................................... Exhibit 2001
`
`Claim Construction Memorandum and Order, Case 2:18-
`CV-00502-JRG-RSP (E.D. Tex.), Dkt. 149 (Jan. 20, 2020) ....... Exhibit 2002
`
`Claim Construction Ruling, Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Netflix,
`Inc., SACV 18-2055-GW-DFMx, Dkt. 138 (C.D. Cal. Mar.
`9, 2020) ......................................................................................... Exhibit 2003
`
`
`iv
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`I.
`
`INTRODUCTION
`
`Uniloc 2017 LLC (the “Uniloc” or “Patent Owner”) submits this Response to
`
`Petition IPR2020-00041 for Inter Partes Review (“Pet.” or “Petition”) of United
`
`States Patent No. 8,407,609 (“the ’609 patent” or “EX1001”) filed by Netflix, Inc.
`
`and Roku, Inc. (“Petitioners”).1
`
`In view of the reasons presented herein, the Petition should be denied in its
`
`entirety, as Petitioner has failed to meet its burden of showing that any challenged
`
`claim is unpatentable. 35 U.S.C. § 316(e). While the Board instituted trial here, as
`
`the Court of Appeals has stated:
`
`[T]here is a significant difference between a petitioner’s burden to
`
`establish a “reasonable likelihood of success” at institution, and actually
`
`proving invalidity by a preponderance of the evidence at trial. Compare 35
`
`U.S.C. § 314(a) (standard for institution of inter partes review), with 35
`
`U.S.C. § 316(e) (burden of proving invalidity during inter partes review).
`
`Trivascular, Inc. v. Samuels, 812 F.3d 1056, 1068 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Petitioner has
`
`failed to meet its burden of proving any proposition of invalidity, as to any claim, by
`
`a preponderance of the evidence. 35 U.S.C. § 316(e).
`
`II. OVERVIEW OF THE ’609 PATENT
`
`The ’609 patent is titled “System and method for providing and tracking the
`
`provision of audio and visual presentations via a computer network.” The ʼ609 patent
`
`
`1 Roku, Inc. was also an original Petitioner, but it has since moved to withdraw from
`
`the Petition, due to settlement between the parties.
`
`
`
`1
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`issued March 26, 2013, from U.S. Patent Application No. 12/545,131 filed August
`
`21, 2009, claiming priority to provisional application No. 61/090,672, filed on August
`
`21, 2008.
`
`The ’609 patent observes that, because of the virtually unlimited content
`
`available via the Internet, it can prove difficult for a user of an Internet enabled
`
`computer to identify and locate content of interest. Ex. 1001, 1:50‒54. The patent
`
`further notes that search engines of that time do not always return meaningful results
`
`in response to a query, due in part to the complex nature and nuances of human
`
`language, and efforts by document authors or providers to fool or trick the indexer
`
`into ranking its documents above those of others. Id., 1:55‒2:1. Certain disclosed
`
`embodiments of the ’609 patent address this challenge by aggregating content,
`
`including audio and video content suitable for streaming. Id., 3:56‒64.
`
`
`
`2
`
`
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`The illustrated portion of the system described with reference to Figure 1
`
`includes a system 10 that includes user computers 20, network server computers 30
`
`and a network 40 interconnecting computers 20, 30. The system 10 also includes
`
`personal computing devices 22 and a personal digital assistant computer/web-enabled
`
`cell phone computer 24. Communication links 26 communicatively couple devices
`
`20 and server computers 30 with network 40. Id., 3:65‒4:19.
`
`Web pages may be provided to user computers 20, personal computing devices
`
`22 and cell phone computer 24 by server computers 30. As shown in Figure 2, a web
`
`page 200 provided by a server computer 30 aggregates audio and/or video content for
`
`presentation to users of computers 20. Id., 4:22‒27. By user selection of a
`
`presentation on a web page 200, a suitably populated web page 900, shown in Figure
`
`9, may be served to the user’s computer. Portion 930 of the web page 900 may be
`
`used to playback a selected presentation such as by streaming the content to a media
`
`player application or plugin. It may be desirable to reliably identify how long the
`
`media is played, or expected to be played, such as to value portions 910, 920 as
`
`advertising space. Id., 11:59‒12:15.
`
`
`
`3
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`
`
`Where content is not uploaded to the computer server or system 30 of the
`
`operator serving web page 900, and is instead remotely provided from another
`
`computer system, the operator of system 30 does not necessarily exercise control over
`
`the content data storage resource and may not be able to directly track how long
`
`content is streaming to a particular user. Id., 12:36‒45.
`
`The ’609 discloses exemplary solutions to this challenge of tracking, by a
`
`server system, of playback of content streamed from another resource to a user device
`
`is discussed in process 1000, illustrated in Figure 10 of the ’609 patent. The user’s
`
`computer receives a web page, such as from system 30 of Fig. 1, at block 1010. The
`
`received web page may take the form of web page 900 of Figure 9, which includes a
`
`
`
`4
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`portion that may be used to play back user-selected content on the user’s computer,
`
`which content may be provided by a third party’s computer system. Id., 12:56‒66.
`
`
`
`
`
`A timer applet on page 900 may be used to indicate when a predetermined
`
`temporal period has elapsed. Examples of those temporal periods given in the ’609
`
`patent include 10, 15 and 30 seconds. The timer applet may be started at block 1020
`
`of Figure 10. Id., 13:4‒9. When the timer applet determines that the predetermined
`
`period has elapsed, it signals its continued execution to the user’s computer system
`
`20. The server system may log receipt of this indication. The applet may cause
`
`identifying data, such as a cookie, or associated data, to be transmitted from the
`
`user’s computer to the server, where the cookie, or associated data, may be stored
`
`and/or logged, such as by using database server 32. Id., 13:10‒23.
`
`
`
`5
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`In a preferred embodiment, at each expiration of the predetermined temporal
`
`period, as determined by the timer applet, a table entry may be made using database
`
`server 32. Id., 13:24‒30. The table entry may contain, for example, information
`
`representing the user, the page the user is on, and, to the extent the user is on the
`
`same page as was the user upon the last expiration of the timer, the user’s total time
`
`on the same page. Id. In certain embodiments, the timer applet may cause data
`
`indicative of another temporal cycle having passed while the web page presents the
`
`presentation. In that case, a value indicative of the number of cycles that have
`
`passed, stored in database server 32, may be incremented each time the data is
`
`received. Id., 13:36‒42.
`
`Accordingly, in various embodiments, the ’609 patent discloses various
`
`techniques to track and record how long a particular viewer spent accessing certain
`
`media content from a particular web page. Id., 13:43‒48.
`
`III. OVERVIEW OF PROSECUTION HISTORY OF THE ’609 PATENT
`
`The prosecution history of the ’609 patent includes substantive examination,
`
`including reliance by the Examiner at the USPTO on one reference to reject as-filed
`
`claims, and inclusion of detailed comments as to three further references by the
`
`Examiner in an Office Action.
`
`In a first Non-Final Office Action, the Examiner rejected all pending claims
`
`under 35 U.S.C. 103 over Cobley (U.S. Patent Pub 2002/0198781). Ex. 2001, p. 65.
`
`The Examiner alleged that Cobley discloses, inter alia, providing identifier data to
`
`a user’s computer system for each digital media presentation system, an applet
`
`
`
`6
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`operative by the user’s computer as a timer, receiving at least a portion of the
`
`identifier data provided to the user’s computer responsively to the timer applet each
`
`time a predetermined temporal period elapses using the first computer system, and
`
`storing data indicative of received identifier data. Id. at 66.
`
`The Examiner also provided summaries of three references, identified as
`
`pertinent to the disclosure, namely Odom (U.S. Patent No. 6,606,102), Shuster (U.S.
`
`Patent Pub. 2011/0082754) and Gaidemak (U.S. Patent Pub. 2006/0224693). Id. at
`
`67-68. The Examiner summarized Shuster as disclosing a tool where, upon entering
`
`a website, the time at which the user enters is determined, and an applet may begin
`
`a count down for a predetermined time period. Id. at 68.
`
`In a response, the applicant amended claim 1 to recite “wherein each stored
`
`data is together indicative of a cumulative time the corresponding web page was
`
`displayed by the user’s computer.” Id. at 33. The accompanying arguments noted
`
`that Cobley failed to each or suggest this recitation, as well as the recitations
`
`“receiving at least a portion of the identifier data from the user’s computer
`
`responsively to the timer applet each time a predetermined temporal period elapses
`
`using the first computer system;” and “storing data indicative of the received at least
`
`portion of the identifier data using the first computer system.” Id. at 37.
`
`The Examiner ultimately issued a Notice of Allowance, and the application
`
`proceeded to grant. Ex. 2001, pp. 21‒25.
`
`For the convenience of the Board, the text of challenged independent claim
`
`1, and challenged claims 2 and 3, are reproduced here:
`
`
`
`7
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`1.
`
`A method for tracking digital media presentations
`
`delivered from a first computer system to a user’s computer via a
`
`network comprising:
`
`providing a corresponding web page to the user’s computer for
`
`each digital media presentation to be delivered using the first
`
`computer system;
`
`providing identifier data to the user’s computer using the first
`
`computer system;
`
`providing an applet to the user’s computer for each digital
`
`media presentation to be delivered using the first computer system,
`
`wherein the applet is operative by the user’s computer as a timer;
`
`receiving at least a portion of the identifier data from the user’s
`
`computer responsively to the timer applet each time a predetermined
`
`temporal period elapses using the first computer system; and
`
`storing data indicative of the received at least portion of the
`
`identifier data using the first computer system;
`
`wherein each provided webpage causes corresponding digital
`
`media presentation data to be streamed from a second computer
`
`system distinct from the first computer system directly to the user’s
`
`computer independent of the first computer system;
`
`wherein the stored data is indicative of an amount of time the
`
`digital media presentation data is streamed from the second computer
`
`system to the user’s computer; and
`
`wherein each stored data is together indicative of a cumulative
`
`time the corresponding web page was displayed by the user’s
`
`computer.
`
`2. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing comprises
`
`incrementing a stored value dependently upon the receiving.
`
`3. The method of claim 2, wherein the received data is
`
`
`
`8
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`indicative of a temporal cycle passing.
`
`IV. RELATED PROCEEDINGS
`
`The following proceedings are currently pending (including stayed) cases
`
`concerning the ’609 patent (Ex. 1001).
`
`Case Name
`
`Case Number Court Filing Date
`
`Uniloc 2017 LLC et al v. Google LLC
`
`2-18-cv-00502 TXED 11/17/2018
`
`Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Netflix, Inc.
`Uniloc 2017 LLC v. American
`Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
`Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Vudu, Inc.
`Uniloc 2017, LLC v. Sling TV, LLC
`Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Roku, Inc.
`Sling TV LLC et al v. Uniloc 2017 LLC
`
`8-18-cv-02055 CACD 11/17/2018
`8-18-cv-02056 CACD 11/17/2018
`
`1/30/2019
`1-19-cv-00183 DED
`1/31/2019
`1-19-cv-00278 COD
`8-19-cv-00295 CACD 2/14/2019
`IPR2019-01367 PTAB
`7/22/2019
`
`Google, LLC v. Uniloc 2017 LLC
`
`IPR2020-00115 PTAB 10/31/2019
`
`Two district courts have construed claim terms of the ’609 patent. See Ex.
`
`2002, Claim Construction Memorandum and Order, Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Google
`
`LLC, Case No. 2:18-CV-00502-JRG-RSP, Dkt. 149 (E.D. Tex. Jan. 20, 2020)
`
`(adopted Dkt. 198, Mar. 24, 2020); Ex. 2003, Claim Construction Ruling, Uniloc
`
`2017 LLC v. Netflix, Inc., SACV 18-2055-GW-DFMx, Dkt. 138 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 9,
`
`2020). One of the court’s claim construction order was previously filed in this matter
`
`as Uniloc’s Exhibit 2002; and the other is concurrently filed herewith as Exhibit 2003.
`
`
`
`V.
`
`PETITIONER DOES NOT PROVE UNPATENTABILITY FOR ANY
`CHALLENGED CLAIM
`
`Petitioner has the burden of proof to establish entitlement to relief. 37 C.F.R.
`
`§42.108(c) (“review shall not be instituted for a ground of unpatentability unless
`
`
`
`9
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`. . . there is a reasonable likelihood that at least one of the claims challenged . . . is
`
`unpatentable”). The Petition should be denied as failing to meet this burden.
`
`The Petition asserts the following redundant Grounds:
`
`Reference(s)
`Ground Basis Claims
`1
`103
`1‒3 Davis (U.S. Patent No. 5,796,952, Ex. 1003); Choi (U.S.
`Patent Pub. 2003/0236905, EX. 1006).
`Siler (U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2004/0133467, Ex. 1005);
`Davis
`
`2
`
`103
`
`1‒3
`
`A. LEVEL OF ORDINARY SKILL IN THE ART
`
`The Petitioner proposes that a person of ordinary skill would have had at least
`
`a B.S. degree in computer engineering, or computer science, or electrical
`
`engineering, or equivalent experience, and at least two years of experience with web
`
`development, including the then-current web technologies such as HTML, XML,
`
`Java and JavaScript. Pet. 14. Given Petitioner fails to meet its burden to prove
`
`obviousness even if the Board were to adopt Petitioner’s definition for a person of
`
`ordinary skill in the art, Patent Owner does not offer a competing definition for
`
`purposes of this proceeding.
`
`B. CLAIM CONSTRUCTION
`
`1.
`
`Claim Construction Standard
`
`Because the Petition was filed after November 13, 2018, the Board interprets
`
`claim terms using “the same claim construction standard that would be used to
`
`construe the claim in a civil action under 35 U.S.C. 282(b).” 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b)
`
`(2019).
`
`
`
`10
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`2. Overview of District Court Claim Constructions
`
`Two district courts have construed claim terms of the ’609 patent. See Ex.
`
`2002, Claim Construction Memorandum and Order, Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Google LLC,
`
`Case No. 2:18-CV-00502-JRG-RSP, Dkt. 149 (E.D. Tex. Jan. 20, 2020) (adopted
`
`Dkt. 198, Mar. 24, 2020); Ex. 2003, Claim Construction Ruling, Uniloc 2017 LLC v.
`
`Netflix, Inc., SACV 18-2055-GW-DFMx, Dkt. 138 (C.D. Cal. Mar. 9, 2020).
`
`Because 37 C.F.R. § 42.100(b) further provides that the Board must at least
`
`“consider” the prior claim construction rulings issued in the related district court
`
`litigation and timely made of record here (as Exhibits 2002 and 2003), what follows
`
`is an overview of the claim construction rulings in the parallel litigations.
`
`a)
`
`“streaming”
`
`In parallel litigation involving the same parties, the district court noted the
`
`parties had reached agreement (for purposes of that proceeding and in order to narrow
`
`the disputed issues) that the term “streamed” (as recited in claim 1 of the ’609 patent)
`
`should be construed to mean “transferred via a technique such that the data can be
`
`processed as substantially steady or continuance sequence.” Ex. 2003, p. 6.
`
`Here, because Petitioner does not meet its burden to prove obviousness even if
`
`the Board were to apply the same construction for “streaming,” and in order to allow
`
`the Board to focus on more salient issues, Patent Owner acknowledges that for
`
`purposes of this proceeding it “may not be necessary to determine the exact outer
`
`boundary of claim scope [for this term] because only those terms that are in
`
`controversy need be construed, and only to the extent necessary to resolve the
`
`
`
`11
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`controversy.” See 83 Fed. Reg. 51340 at 51353.
`
`b)
`
`“each stored data is together indicative of a cumulative
`time the corresponding web page was displayed by the
`user’s computer steaming”
`
`The same claim construction order provides a construction for only one other
`
`term of the ’609 patent. Specifically, the court construed “each stored data is together
`
`indicative of a cumulative time the corresponding web page was displayed by the
`
`user’s computer” (as recited in claim 1) to mean “there are two or more stored data
`
`that are indicative of a cumulative time the corresponding web page was displayed
`
`by the user’s computer.” Id., 15‒18.
`
`In addressing this phrase, the court reached several findings concerning a
`
`relevant portion of the prosecution history. The court observed that when the
`
`examiner rejected the claims over Cobley, discussed above, “[t]he applicant
`
`responded by incorporating the claim limitation “each stored data is together
`
`indicative of a cumulative time the corresponding web page was displayed by the
`
`user’s computer” into the independent claim.” Ex. 2003, p. 17 (emphasis original).
`
`The court further explained that “[b]y opting to incorporate the phrase ‘together
`
`indicative of a cumulative time . . . ,’ into the claims, the applicant differentiated the
`
`claims from Cobley in a way that signaled a requirement for multiple time data
`
`entries.” Id. (citing Tech. Properties Ltd. LLC v. Huawei Techs. Co., 849 F.3d 1349,
`
`1359 (Fed. Cir. 2017) for the proposition that “the scope of surrender is not limited
`
`to what is absolutely necessary to avoid a prior art reference; patentees may surrender
`
`more than necessary.”). Were it not so, according to the court, “the word ‘together’
`
`
`
`12
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`would not be given any effect.” Id. (citing Akzo Nobel Coatings, Inc. v. Dow Chem.
`
`Co., 811 F.3d 1334, 1340 (Fed. Cir. 2016) for the proposition that “construction that
`
`rendered word in a claim superfluous rejected”).
`
`c)
`
`“identifier data”
`
`In another parallel litigation involving the same ’609 patent and naming
`
`Google LLC as a defendant, the court construed “identifier data” to mean “data that
`
`can be used to identify the user and to identify the provided corresponding web page.”
`
`Ex. 2002, p. 62. The court’s construction for “identifier data,” if adopted here, would
`
`be dispositive in favor of patentability because the Petition does not apply such a
`
`construction in either redundant ground. Accordingly, an overview of the claim
`
`construction argument and evidence presented in district court is warranted.
`
`The claim construction briefing in the district court addressed certain intrinsic
`
`evidence relevant to the construction the court ultimately adopted. This included, for
`
`example, the disclosure in the ’609 patent that “at each expiration of temporal period
`
`as determined by the timer applet, such as every 15 seconds, a table entry may be
`
`made of the user, the page the user is on . . . .” Ex. 1001, 13:24‒30. The same
`
`description continues by providing the following example ways in which a user may
`
`be identified: “the information the user used to login, the user’s IP address, the user’s
`
`response to an identifying query, or the like.” Id., 13:30‒33. In view of this
`
`disclosure, the court ultimately found that the “identifier data” must at least include
`
`“data that can be used to identify the user . . . .” Ex. 2002, p. 62.
`
`
`
`13
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`d)
`
`“computer system”
`
`Patent Owner discussed in its Preliminary Response a claim construction
`
`dispute injected by the Petition concerning the proper construction of the “computer
`
`system” term. See Prelim. Resp. 13‒16; see also Pet. 12‒13. Petitioner
`
`acknowledges its obviousness theory for is keyed to a construction that “computer
`
`system” means “one or more computing devices having a common operator or under
`
`common control.” Pet. 8. Petitioner’s construction for “computer system” also has
`
`particular relevance to its obviousness theory for the claim limitation recited as “a
`
`second computer system distinct from the first computer system.” If “computer
`
`system” means “one or more computing devices having a common operator or under
`
`common control,” as Petitioner argues, then it follows that “a second computer
`
`system” cannot be “distinct from the first computer system” if both have a common
`
`operator or are under common control. Otherwise, these distinct terms would be
`
`impermissibly conflated together. As will be shown, this logical consequence of the
`
`construction applied in the Petition for “computer system” gives rise to certain fatal
`
`deficiencies.
`
`C.
`
`Petitioner fails at least to prove its proposed Davis-Choi
`combination renders obvious limitations directed to the “timer
`applet,” such as those recited in the “receiving” step (Ground 1)
`
`Among other substantive deficiencies, the proposed combination of Davis and
`
`Choi fails to meet claim limitations directed to the provided “timer applet,” such as,
`
`for example, those recited in the “receiving” step—i.e., “receiving at least a portion
`
`
`
`14
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`of the identifier data from the user’s computer responsively to the timer applet each
`
`time a predetermined temporal period elapses using the first computer system.”
`
`At least one acknowledged deficiency of Davis is with respect to the
`
`requirements in claim 1 directed to the “timer applet”—e.g., among other limitations,
`
`the “timer applet” must be “operative by the user’s computer as a timer,” such that
`
`“at least a portion of the identifier data [is received] from the user’s computer
`
`responsively to the timer applet each time a predetermined temporal period elapses
`
`using the first computer system.” Petitioner expressly acknowledges this deficiency
`
`at least by asserting that Davis does “not disclose that the timer applet used on the
`
`client machine repeatedly reported the consumption of a content at the expiration of
`
`predetermined time intervals.” Pet. 16.
`
`After acknowledging Davis is deficient, the Petition nevertheless asserts Davis
`
`teaches “that Server B, part of the first computer system, received the client ID from
`
`the client, the user’s computer, when the tracking program, the applet, terminated
`
`execution.” Pet. 27. Petitioner fails to explain how its characterization of Davis is
`
`relevant. It is not. The claim language is not directed to a server providing a “tracker
`
`applet” or to receiving the claimed “identifier data” only when a tracker applet
`
`terminates its execution. Rather, the claim language further defines and meaningfully
`
`limits the “timer applet” term as not only being provided by the first computer system
`
`to
`
`the user’s computer system, but also as responsively
`
`timing certain
`
`communications—i.e., “receiving at least a portion of the identifier data from the
`
`user’s computer responsively to the timer applet each time a predetermined temporal
`
`
`
`15
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`period elapses using the first computer system.” It is undisputed that Davis fails to
`
`disclose a “timer applet” meeting these explicit requirements; and Choi likewise fails
`
`to disclose providing a “timer applet” as claimed.
`
`Petitioner’s assertion of Choi only underscores its deficiencies with respect to
`
`the claimed “timer applet” as defined, in part, in the “receiving” step. Petitioner
`
`points to the statement in Choi that “the client 110 periodically transmits state data
`
`(e.g., logging statistics) to the server 108 for storage.” Pet. 29. However, Choi
`
`discloses the timing of the periodic transmissions is set by the “statistics reporting
`
`interval parameter sent in the initial request.” Choi at ¶0097. Citing this statement
`
`in Choi, the Petition and its attached declaration concede Choi discloses a client’s
`
`initial request dictates the timing interval of the periodic transmissions. Pet. 29‒30
`
`(citing Choi at ¶0097; Franz ¶¶103-109).
`
`Even under Petitioner’s own characterization of Choi, the cited disclosure is
`
`distinguishable on its face, at a minimum, from a first computer system providing a
`
`timer applet that operates at the user’s computer system to responsively control the
`
`timing of when “identifier data” is received at the first computer system. In other
`
`words, as set forth in the claim language, the provided “timer applet” must itself
`
`operates as a timer, such that the first computer system receives “at least a portion of
`
`the identifier data . . . from the user’s computer system responsively to the timer
`
`applet each time a predetermined temporal period elapses.”
`
`Petitioner’s proposed modification of Davis based on Choi also presents
`
`another fatal flaw, which both the Petition and its attached declaration overlook. The
`
`
`
`16
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`Petition partially quotes paragraph 97 of Choi, which is reproduced in its entirety
`
`below for the convenience of the Board:
`
`
`
`Pet. 30 (citing Choi, Appendix C at ¶97). The cited paragraph of Choi discloses, in
`
`statements which the Petition and its attached declaration fail to even acknowledge,
`
`that if a parameter is “constant,” it is “sent only once at the beginning of the session.”
`
`Choi, ¶97. It is only the “dynamically changing parameters” in Choi that “are sent
`
`regularly.” Id. This disclosure only further distinguishes the proposed combination
`
`from what the claim language expressly requires must be received responsive to
`
`timing of the timer applet—i.e., “at least a portion of the identifier data.”
`
`
`
`To understand this additional flaw in Petitioner’s proposed combination, it is
`
`helpful to consider the antecedent basis for the term “at least a portion of the identifier
`
`data.” This term derives its antecedent basis from the step recited in claim 1 as
`
`“providing identifier data to the user’s computer using the first computer system.”
`
`Thus, the claimed “portion of the identifier data” received “from the user’s computer
`
`system responsively to the timer applet each time a predetermined temporal period
`
`elapses” must be a portion of the same “identifier data” provided to the user’s
`
`computer. The above-cited portion of Choi fails to disclose, and indeed teaches away
`
`from, this limitation at least by stating that the parameters “sent regularly” are only
`
`
`
`17
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`those that are “dynamically changing.” Id. The Petition offers no argument or
`
`evidence for how Choi’s changed parameters are somehow the same “identifier data”
`
`provided to the user’s computer.
`
`
`
`Petitioner and its declarant also quote, yet fail to discuss, the statement in the
`
`same cited paragraph of Choi that the “frequency of reporting [is] set by the statistics
`
`reporting interval parameter sent in the initial request.” Choi, Appendix C at ¶97;
`
`Pet. 30. Choi consistently uses the word “request” in the context of a client sending
`
`a request to a server. See, e.g., Choi, ¶¶ 8‒10, 12, (“reconnect request”), ¶ 53
`
`(playback request). According to Choi, therefore, it is the client that dictates the
`
`frequency of reporting; and it does so by setting an interval parameter in its initial
`
`request. Setting aside the lack of motivation to modify Davis based on Choi in the
`
`manner proposed, such a modification—where the client dictates to the server the
`
`frequency at which the client will be reporting—bears no resemblance to the claim
`
`language.
`
`
`
`Petitioner also points to a portion of paragraph 47 of the written description of
`
`Choi. The portion quoted in the Petition is reproduced below:
`
`[0047] The client 110 periodically transmits state data (e.g.,
`
`logging statistics) to the server 108 for Storage. In addition, the
`
`server 108 tracks the status of each client viewer state and allows
`
`an administrator of server 108 to determine the state of any client
`
`110. The state data includes a Session identifier and a Stream
`
`identifier corresponding to the current client-Server Session and
`
`the Streams being delivered, respectively.
`
`
`
`18
`
`
`
`IPR2020-00041
`U.S. Patent No. 8,407,609
`
`
`Choi, ¶47; see also Pet. 29‒30 (quoting the same). Petitioner acknowledges,
`
`however, that paragraph 47 of Choi is properly understood in the context of the
`
`additional and more detailed disclosure in Choi’s Appendix C, discussed above. Pet.
`
`30 (offering the following citation: “Choi at ¶47; see also id. at ¶¶0096, 0097”).
`
`
`
`Even if Petitioner had proven sufficient motivation to modify Davis to
`
`periodically transmit Choi’s so-called “state data,” and Patent Owner does not
`
`concede this is the case, Choi itself explains that its periodic transmittal pertains only
`
`to “dynamically changing parameters.” Choi, Appendix C at ¶97. Thus, Petitioner’s
`
`selective quotation of Choi’s paragraph 47 suffers at least from the same deficiencies
`
`explained above concerning the cited portion of Choi’s Appendix C. As explained
`
`further above, Choi discloses (in the very passages cited in the Petition) that if a given
`
`parameter is considered constant then it is sent only once. Id.
`