`
`The Honorable James L. Robart
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`26
`
`UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE
`
`SRC Labs, LLC, et al.,
`
`v.
`
`Microsoft Corporation,
`
`Plaintiffs,
`
`No. 2:18-cv-00321-JLR
`
`Defendant.
`
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON
`FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STAY
`CASE PENDING INTER PARTES
`REVIEW
`
`Brandon Freeman, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington,
`
`declares that the following is true and correct:
`
`1.
`
`I am President and Manager of SRC Labs, LLC ("SRC Labs") and Chairman of
`
`DirectSream, LLC ("DirectStream"). DirectStream is the operating company that interfaces
`
`with customers and government agencies to develop technology and provides platform computer
`
`services to government contractors and clients in the private sector. SRC Labs is a licensing
`
`company. DirectStream and SRC Labs are sister companies, which are both owned by FG-SRC,
`
`LLC. They operate in tandem. FG-SRC is responsible for the management and funding of both
`
`SRC Labs and DirectStream. Financial burdens on SRC Labs directly affects DirectStream's
`
`ability to fund research and development and operations. FG-SRC's capital is limited.
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P.
`DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STAY CASE PENDING INTER
`1201 Third Avenue, suite 32oo
`TEL~e:~~~N;f,A<ig~~~-i~~12eoo
`PARTES REVIEW (2:18-cv-00321-JLR)- 1
`FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384
`
`
`
`Case 2:18-cv-00321-JLR Document 125 Filed 10/29/18 Page 2 of 5
`
`2.
`
`SRC Labs entered into an exclusive license agreement with the Saint Regis
`
`Mohawk Tribe that gives SRC Labs a right to sublicense the patents in suit.
`
`3.
`
`DirectStream is a small emerging company. Prior to 2016, DirectStream was
`
`known as SRC Computers. Its revenue stream since 2002 has been approximately $30 million
`
`dollars. SRC Computers and DirectStream have spent over $100 million on research and
`
`development related to the patents-at-issue. It has developed FPGA (Field Programmable Gate
`
`Arrays) computing services technology and provides FPGA platform computing services to its
`
`customers.
`
`4.
`
`DirectStream is a competitor of Microsoft, to the extent any small emerging
`
`company can compete with the largest computer software company in the world. Both
`
`DirectStream and Microsoft provide FPGA-based reconfigurable computing hardware and
`
`services to companies.
`
`5.
`
`Specifically, Microsoft is using infringing FPGA-based reconfigurable computing
`
`technology in its datacenters that power its Azure cloud services. Microsoft's clients refactor
`
`and reconfigure their networks and applications to work with Microsoft's cloud computing
`
`technology. For example, if a global payment network adopts Microsoft's cloud computing
`
`services for its clients to access its network and if Microsoft is allowed to continue to use
`
`Plaintiffs' patented technology, DirectStream and Plaintiffs will be irreparably harmed because
`
`potential customers of DirectStream, such as a global payment network, will already have
`
`refactored and configured their systems and applications to work with Microsoft's cloud
`
`computing services, and will not change their networks to adapt to DirectStream's platform.
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`26
`
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STAY CASE PENDING INTER
`PARTES REVIEW (2:18-cv-00321-JLR)- 2
`
`KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P.
`1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200
`Seattle, WA 98101-3052
`TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900
`FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384
`
`
`
`Case 2:18-cv-00321-JLR Document 125 Filed 10/29/18 Page 3 of 5
`
`6.
`
`Similarly, companies use the FPGA technology for processing machine learning
`
`models, and use Microsoft's Azure cloud services for deploying machine learning models for
`
`real-time artificial intelligence. These same companies are potential customers ofDirectStream.
`
`7.
`
`Both Microsoft and DirectStream provide computing services to the Department
`
`of Defense and are competitors for government contracts requiring FPGA technology.
`
`DirectStream provides FPGA platform computing services to the Department of Defense and the
`
`Intelligence Community, including the National Security Agency since 2002. DirectStream has
`
`had services and system contracts with the U.S. Airforce, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy since 2006.
`
`Microsoft uses FPGA technology to provide cloud computing service to the Department of
`
`Defense and the U.S. Navy through its Azure product.
`
`8.
`
`DirectStream currently provides its FPGA-based reconfigurable cloud computing
`
`services to private sector companies, such as Lockheed Martin and Boon Logic. Microsoft uses
`
`FPGA technology to provide cloud computing services to the private sector through its Azure
`
`product. Thus, DirectStream and Microsoft are competitors in providing cloud computing
`
`services to private customers using FPGA technology.
`
`9.
`
`DirectStream will continue to experience a loss of goodwill and market share if
`
`Microsoft is allowed to continue infringing Plaintiffs' patents to compete with DirectStream.
`
`Microsoft's infringe and delay strategy - filing of serial IPRs, appeals and other actions in the
`
`USPTO, such as post-grant reviews and interferences- may force DirectStream out of business.
`
`SRC Labs has already received estimates that the cost to defend the IPRs Microsoft has currently
`
`filed will exceed $700,000 just to get preliminary responses filed and basic pre-hearing
`
`discovery.
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`26
`
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STAY CASE PENDING INTER
`PARTES REVIEW (2:18-cv-00321-JLR)- 3
`
`KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P.
`1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200
`Seattle, WA 98101-3052
`TELEPHONE: (206) 623-1900
`FACSIMILE: (206) 623-3384
`
`
`
`Case 2:18-cv-00321-JLR Document 125 Filed 10/29/18 Page 4 of 5
`
`1 0.
`
`As a small company, DirectStream is reliant upon access to capital to fund its
`
`contracts and continued operations. If it is not able to exclusively use its patents on the FPGA
`
`technology, the company is less valuable, and may be unable to secure adequate financing to
`
`fulfill its contracts.
`
`11.
`
`Based on the foregoing, I believe a stay in this case will erode DirectStream's
`
`market share and goodwill and could possibly destroy the company.
`
`I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
`Executed thist"'.j - day of October, 2018 in ---.c~~=--&L-'--/-'---~=~-><L_ _ _ _ , fK
`
`~/..
`
`0
`
`- : - - - - . . ,
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`26
`
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO STAY CASE PENDING INTER
`PARTES REVIEW (2:18-cv-00321-JLR)- 4
`
`KELLER RO H RBA C K L.L.P.
`1201 Third A v enue , Suite 3 200
`Seattle , WA 98101 - 3052
`TELEPHONE : ( 20 6) 623- 190 0
`FA C SIMILE : ( 206 ) 6 2 3 -338 4
`
`
`
`Case 2:18-cv-00321-JLR Document 125 Filed 10/29/18 Page 5 of 5
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`I hereby certify that on this 29th day of October, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing
`
`with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send notification of such filing
`
`to all counsel of record.
`
`s/Mark A. Griffin
`Mark A. Griffin, WSBA #16296
`
`4816-4262-6681, v. 3
`
`1
`
`2
`
`3
`
`4
`
`5
`
`6
`
`7
`
`8
`
`9
`
`10
`
`11
`
`12
`
`13
`
`14
`
`15
`
`16
`
`17
`
`18
`
`19
`
`20
`
`21
`
`22
`
`23
`
`24
`
`25
`
`26
`
`DECLARATION OF BRANDON FREEMAN IN OPPOSITION TO
`DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO STAY CASE PENDING INTER
`PARTES REVIEW (2:18-cv-00321-JLR) - 5
`
`KELLER ROHRB ACK L.L.P.
`1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200
`Seattle, W A 98101-3052
`T E L E P H O N E : ( 2 0 6 ) 6 2 3 - 1 9 0 0
`F A C S I M I L E : ( 2 0 6 ) 6 2 3 - 3 3 8 4
`
`