UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`
`____________
`
`AKAMAI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`EQUIL IP HOLDINGS LLC,
`Patent Owner.
`
`____________
`
`Case IPR2023-00330
`
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
`
`____________
`
`PETITIONER’S PRE-INSTITUTION REPLY TO PATENT OWNER’S
`PRELMINARY RESPONSE
`
`
`
`

`

`
`
`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
`
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................... i
`EXHIBIT LIST ......................................................................................................... ii
`A. PO’s Purported Inventorship Correction Does Not Affect Samaniego’s
`Prior Art Status in This IPR Because the ’242 Is Not the Patent “In
`Which Such [Purported] Error Occurred” ............................................................ 1
`B. The Cited Prior Art Presents Unconsidered Teachings ....................................... 4
`
`
`
`
`
`i
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`

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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
`
`Page(s)
`
`Cases
`Bowen v. Georgetown Univ. Hosp.,
`488 U.S. 204 (1988) .............................................................................................. 2
`Ecobee Techs. v. Causam Enterprises, Inc.,
`IPR2022-01339, Paper 20 (Mar. 22, 2023) .......................................................... 7
`Google LLC v. Valtrus Innovs. Ltd.,
`IPR2022-01197, Paper 12 (Mar. 29, 2023) .......................................................... 7
`Pannu v. Iolab Corp.,
`155 F.3d 1344 (Fed. Cir. 1998) ............................................................................ 2
`Sony v. MZ Audio Scis., LLC,
`IPR2022-01544, Paper 12 (Apr. 21, 2023) ........................................................... 7
`Sw. Software, Inc. v. Harlequin Inc.,
`226 F.3d 1280 (Fed. Cir. 2000) ............................................................................ 3
`Statutes
`35 U.S.C.
`§120 ....................................................................................................................... 1
`§102(f) ............................................................................................................... 2, 3
`§254 ....................................................................................................................... 3
`§255 ....................................................................................................................... 3
`§256 ....................................................................................................................... 2
`§256(b) .......................................................................................................... 1, 2, 3
`§325(d) .......................................................................................................... 1, 4, 7
`§311(b) .................................................................................................................. 2
`§314(a) .................................................................................................................. 4
`§318(a) .................................................................................................................. 1
`
`Other Authorities
`MPEP 1402 II ............................................................................................................. 4
`
`ii
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`

`

`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
`
`
`TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS
`
`
`
`
`U.S. Patent No. 6,964,009 (Ex. 2006)
`’009
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242 (Ex. 1001)
`’242
`
`Certificate of Correction
`COC
`U.S. Patent No. 6,438,576 (Ex. 1005)
`Huang
`Information Disclosure Statement
`IDS
`Inter Partes Review
`IPR
`U.S. Patent No. 6,483,851 (Ex. 2011)
`Neogi
`Pet./Petition Petition for Inter Partes Review (Paper 2)
`Petitioner
`Petitioner Akamai Technologies, Inc.
`PO
`Patent Owner Equil IP Holdings LLC
`POPR
`Patent Owner Preliminary Response (Paper 8)
`PTAB
`Patent Trial and Appeal Board
`RHI
`Receiver Hint Information
`Samaniego U.S. Patent Application No. 2002/0078093 (Ex. 1007)
`Tso
`U.S. Patent No. 6,421,733 (Ex. 1004)
`Tso-PCT
`PCT Publication WO 98/43177 (Ex. 2007)
`USPTO
`United States Patent and Trademark Office
`
`i
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`

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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`EXHIBIT LIST
`
`Ex. 1001 U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242 (“’242”)
`Ex. 1002 File History of U.S. Application No. 12/713,637 (“’242 FH”)
`Ex. 1003 Declaration of Vijay K. Madisetti in Support of Petition for Inter
`Partes Review of U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
`Ex. 1004 U.S. Patent No. 6,421,733 (“Tso”)
`Ex. 1005 U.S. Patent No. 6,438,576 (“Huang”)
`Ex. 1006 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1007 U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2002/0078093
`(“Samaniego”)
`Ex. 1008 U.S. Patent No. 5,420,967 (“Delp”)
`Ex. 1009 U.S. Patent No. 5,969,716 (“Davis”)
`Ex. 1010 File History of U.S. Application No. 11/269,916 (“’916 FH)
`Ex. 1011 U.S. Patent No. 6,964,009 (“’009”)
`Ex. 1012 U.S. Patent No. 6,792,575 (“’575”)
`Ex. 1013 Redline Comparison of specifications from Samaniego and the ’242
`patent
`Ex. 1014 Loralee Stevens, Internet Video Startup Gets $3.5 Million, N. Bay
`Bus. J. (Apr. 14, 2008),
`https://web.archive.org/web/20080421191837/www.northbaybusiness
`journal.com/article/20080414/BUSINESSJOURNAL/19773530/1207
`/BUSINESSJOURNAL02
`Ex. 1015 LinkedIn Profile for Chris Samaniego,
`https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-samaniego-18b6a01
`Ex. 1016 Equil IP Holdings LLC v. Akamai Technologies, Inc., 1:22-cv-00677
`(D. Del. 2022) First Amended complaint (Aug. 3, 2022)
`
`ii
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`Ex. 1017 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1018 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1019 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1020 Docket Report for Barger-Great South Ventures LLC v. Equilibrium
`Techs.
`Ex. 1021 Redline Comparison of specifications from Samaniego and
`Publication No. 2006-0265476 of Application No. 11/269,916
`Ex. 1022 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1023 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1024 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1025 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1026 File History of U.S. Application No. 12/173,747 (“’046 FH”)
`Ex. 1027 File History of U.S. Application No. 12/238,842 (“’110 FH)
`Ex. 1028 Redline Comparison of specifications from Samaniego and
`Publication No. 2009-0070485 of Application No. 12/173,747
`Ex. 1029 Redline Comparison of specifications from Samaniego and
`Publication No. 2009-0089422 of Application No. 12/238,842
`Ex. 1030 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1031 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1032 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1033 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1034 File History of U.S. Application No. 09/425,326 (“’575 FH”)
`Ex. 1035 File History of U.S. Application No. 09/929,904 (“’009 FH”)
`Ex. 1036 Declaration of Jonathan Bradford
`
`iii
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`Ex. 1037 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1038 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1039 (Reserved)
`Ex. 1040 PTAB Email dated May 18, 2023
`Ex. 1041 Madstad Engineering, Inc. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
`8:12-cv-01589-SDM-MAP (U.S. Dist. Ct., M.D. Fla., Tampa Div.
`2012) Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss and Memorandum in Support
`(Sep. 18, 2012)
`
`iv
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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`PO’s inventorship and §325(d) arguments, which are addressed in this Reply
`
`(see Ex. 1040), lack merit. IPR should be instituted.
`
`A.
`
`PO’s Purported Inventorship Correction Does Not Affect
`Samaniego’s Prior Art Status in This IPR Because the ’242 Is Not
`the Patent “In Which Such [Purported] Error Occurred”
`
`There is no dispute that, if Samaniego (Ex. 1007) is prior art, it
`
`anticipates ’242 claim 9. See Pap. 8 (“POPR”), 13-16 (“Petitioner, the Examiner,
`
`and [PO]’s expert all agree that … the written description[ of Samaniego] disclose[s]
`
`claim 9”). And, there is no dispute that Samaniego shared no common inventors with
`
`the ’242—and therefore qualified as prior art—when the ’242 expired and the
`
`Petition was filed. See Exs. 1001, 1007; §120. PO’s sole substantive argument
`
`addressing Samaniego (Grounds 2-4) is that PO’s recently-secured Certificate of
`
`Correction for
`
`the ’009 (“’009 COC”) somehow disqualifies Samaniego
`
`retroactively.1 POPR 1. But no statute or case supports PO’s position.
`
`PO argues that the ’009 COC petition retroactively removes the ’009 from
`
`serving as prior art to the ’242, but §256(b), which authorizes the ’009 COC, limits
`
`its effects to only inventorship errors in the patent being corrected, i.e., the ’009:
`
`
`1 Petitioner disputes the propriety of the ’009 COC, but will address this and related
`
`inequitable conduct issues in litigation due to the scope of IPR jurisdiction here. See
`
`§318(a). Section references are to 35 U.S.C. Emphasis added unless otherwise noted.
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`1
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`“The error of omitting inventors or naming persons who are not inventors shall not
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`invalidate the patent in which such error occurred if it can be corrected as provided
`
`in [§256].” §256(b). The section does not authorize retroactive impact on the ’242.2
`
`Rather, §256(b) is a “savings provision” to avoid invalidity under §102(f)—
`
`which renders a patent invalid if the named inventor “did not himself invent the
`
`subject matter sought to be patented.” §102(f); Pannu v. Iolab Corp., 155 F.3d 1344,
`
`1350 (Fed. Cir. 1998) (“This section is a savings provision. … When a party asserts
`
`invalidity under §102(f) … a patentee may invoke section 256 to save the patent
`
`from invalidity.”).3 The IPR Petition here addresses prior art unpatentability of ’242
`
`claim 9, not §102(f) inventorship challenges—nor could it. See §311(b).
`
`Moreover, any retroactive effect of a COC must be explicitly authorized by
`
`Congress: as a general matter, “[r]etroactivity is not favored in the law,” and
`
`“congressional enactments and administrative rules will not be construed to have
`
`retroactive effect unless their language requires this result.” Bowen v. Georgetown
`
`Univ. Hosp., 488 U.S. 204, 208 (1988). It is well-established that COCs for USPTO
`
`and clerical errors therefore have only a prospective effect on “the trial of actions
`
`
`2 §256(b) also does not provide for any impact on Samaniego.
`
`3 The ’242 is pre-AIA, but even post-AIA, the same inventorship challenges continue
`
`to apply. See Ex. 1041, 9-10.
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`2
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`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`for causes thereafter arising.” See §§254-255. §256(b) similarly expressly limits the
`
`effect of COCs to only the patent “in which such error occurred,” and therein only
`
`to errors of inventorship implicating §102(f). And unlike §254 corrections, §256(b)
`
`COCs are not “considered as part of the original patent.” But even if the correction
`
`had been made under §§254-255, there are no further “causes thereafter arising”
`
`because the ’242 expired on 1/5/2020. Ex. 1001. By statute, the ’009 COC therefore
`
`has only a confined effect that does not retroactively impact the ’242.
`
`PO’s arguments about the ’009 COC and its alleged retroactive effect also
`
`conveniently overlook PO’s failure to timely raise the alleged inventorship defect.
`
`See Sw. Software, Inc. v. Harlequin Inc., 226 F.3d 1280, 1296 (Fed. Cir. 2000)
`
`(finding that requiring a patentee to “check a patent when it is issued” is not “asking
`
`too much”). PO has known of this purported inventorship issue since at least 2008—
`
`before the ’242 was filed—when it filed a related application removing Samaniego’s
`
`inventors and replacing them with an entirely new set of inventors. See Ex. 1026,
`
`79-87. Yet, PO never sought to correct the ’009’s inventorship during the entire life
`
`of the ’242. During that span, the public has been on notice that the ’242 was invalid
`
`over Samaniego given the discontinuity in inventorship. Petitioner relied on this
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`discontinuity and filed a petition seeking to invalidate claim 9 based on this
`
`deficiency. See Sw. Software, 226 F.3d at 1295–96 (refusing to allow patent holder
`
`to sue for pre-COC activities when “a claim would appear invalid to the public”
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`3
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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`because it would have been “an illogical result”). The ’242 should be analyzed
`
`through that same lens pre-COC. And even if the ’009 COC could have had an
`
`impact on Samaniego’s inventorship for causes of action going forward, that is of
`
`no moment here because the ’242 expired years before the COC.4
`
`For each of these reasons, PO’s COC does not change the fact that Samaniego
`
`remains prior art to the ’242—as it was throughout the life of the ’242.5
`
`B.
`
`The Cited Prior Art Presents Unconsidered Teachings
`
`Initially, the Board should not exercise discretion in light of Samaniego’s
`
`anticipatory and unconsidered teachings (Grounds 2-4) as explained above.
`
`PO’s §325(d) arguments for Ground 1 also fails. PO disputes only whether
`
`Tso and Huang or similar teachings were previously considered and whether the
`
`examiner erred. Huang was not before the USPTO, and PO does not contend that
`
`the examiner considered similar arguments. POPR 24-27; Pet. 8-9.6 Under Advanced
`
`
`4 While a correction of inventorship through reissue (MPEP 1402 II) would have
`
`provided public notice through a republished revised inventive entity, PO did not
`
`avail itself of this vehicle and cannot now because the ’009 has expired.
`
`5 PO’s §314(a) argument based on Grounds 2-4 is therefore inapposite.
`
`6 PO’s argument that §325(d) findings based on “arguments previously before the
`
`Office” also support §314(a) discretion are therefore irrelevant. Cf. POPR 20-21.
`
`4
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`

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`IPR2023-00330
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`Bionics, Huang’s teachings, applied to Tso, differ from what the examiner
`
`considered—and it was error to overlook any similarity that might have existed.
`
`Huang’s teachings of incrementally transcoding a base transcoded
`
`version of content were not previously considered. As the Petition explained,
`
`claim 9 recites “selecting” a cached “pre-existing base transcoded version” of
`
`content that has been transcoded with “only a portion of” the “transcoding
`
`parameters” to be applied, and “incrementally performing” a “remaining portion” of
`
`those transcoding parameters on that version. Pet. 1-2, 7-8, 36-41 ([9.e]-[9.f]). The
`
`examiner cited these elements as the basis for allowance. See id.; Ex. 1002, 824-25.
`
`Ground 1 relies on Huang for its teachings of caching and incrementally transcoding
`
`“intermediate derivative media” in these elements. Pet. 36-41 ([9.e]-[9.f]), 15-17.
`
`Specifically, Huang teaches using “RHI” information to track “partially rendered”
`
`and cached content. Huang, 6:9-23, 6:56-67, 7:42-8:11; Pet. 37-41. When another
`
`request for content arrives, a server uses RHI to retrieve a cached partially-rendered
`
`version of content, and further renders that partially-rendered version to “complet[e]
`
`the entire rendering process.” Id.; Pet. 39-41. As the Petition explains, applying these
`
`teachings to Tso yields a system in which transcode operations are dictated by the
`
`invoked transcode service providers based on each client system (e.g., Tso, 4:19-29,
`
`6:51-7:29, Pet. 12-14, 26-34), and “partial” transcoding outputs from service
`
`providers are cached as intermediate content and used as base transcoded versions
`
`5
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`

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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`on top of which further transcoding steps are incrementally performed to create each
`
`requesting system’s content version. Huang, 6:56-67, 7:25-36, 10:46-56; Pet. 36-41.
`
`Huang’s teachings of these elements markedly differ from those considered
`
`during prosecution. PO contends that Neogi (Ex. 2011) and Huang have
`
`substantially similar “partitioned” processing teachings (POPR 26), but Neogi does
`
`not teach “further transcoding” a cached “base transcoded version” of content. Neogi
`
`teaches transcoding content in “stages,” e.g., by “filtering” and “interpolating”
`
`multimedia in stages. Neogi, 1:56-60, 3:18-39. Neogi does not discuss caching,
`
`storing, or incrementally transcoding partially transcoded content at all. PO cites
`
`Neogi’s “buffer pooling,” but these buffer pools are part of a single “adaptive
`
`pipeline” for a “transcoding service” to stage a transcoding process, and are not used
`
`to cache and reuse previously-created intermediate content. Neogi, 2:52-3:4, Fig. 3.
`
`These “buffer pools” are different from Huang’s teachings discussed for [9.e]-[9.f].
`
`As to Tso, while Tso-PCT (Ex. 2007) has substantially the same disclosures,
`
`the Petition relies on Huang, not Tso, for the [9.e]-[9.f] selecting a partially
`
`transcoded based transcoded version of content and performing further transcoding
`
`of a pre-existing base transcoded version as discussed above. While the POPR notes
`
`that the petition did not discuss Tso-PCT, this is of no moment to the presented
`
`combination. In any event, Tso-PCT was only identified in an IDS, nothing more.
`
`Tso does not identify Tso-PCT and, due to a typo, Tso-PCT does not identify Tso.
`
`6
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`

`

`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`See POPR 24-25 n.9. Even if the existence of Tso-PCT on an IDS were enough to
`
`trigger §325(d), and it is not, the Director recently held that, in these circumstances,
`
`it was “not reasonably foreseeable for Petitioner to have anticipated this connection
`
`since the references themselves do not point to each other.” Google LLC v. Valtrus
`
`Innovs. Ltd., IPR2022-01197, Pap. 12, *5 (Director sua sponte vacating exercise of
`
`§325(d) discretion). Because Huang’s teachings, applied to Tso, are not
`
`substantially similar to any cited art, §325(d) discretion should not apply here. Sony
`
`v. MZ Audio Scis., LLC, IPR2022-01544, Pap. 12, *7 (§325(d) discretion improper
`
`where “Examiner did not consider the specific combination of references asserted”).
`
`Even if any art or arguments were substantially the same, failure to
`
`consider such art was material error. The Examiner identified [9.e]-[9.f] as not
`
`taught in the art, and did not consider Huang (or Neogi) before allowing the ’242.
`
`See Pet. 7-9. And PO does not dispute that the teachings cited in rejections differ
`
`from Huang’s teachings of [9.e]-[9.f]. In such circumstances, it is “impossible … to
`
`determine the consideration the Examiner gave” to Neogi for these elements, and at
`
`the second part of Advanced Bionics, “the absence of further evidence of the
`
`Examiner’s consideration of” the art supports finding that “the Office erred in a
`
`manner material to patentability.” Ecobee Techs. v. Causam Enterprises, Inc.,
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`IPR2022-01339, Pap. 20, *20-21 (declining to exercise §325(d) discretion). Such
`
`error exists here, as summarized above for Huang and in §IX of the Petition.
`
`7
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`

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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`By: /James L. Davis, Jr./
`Name: James L. Davis, Jr.
` Counsel for Petitioner
`
`
`
`Dated: May 30, 2023
`
`
`
`8
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`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`The undersigned certifies that a copy of the foregoing PETITIONER’S PRE-
`
`INSTITUTION REPLY TO PATENT OWNER’S PRELIMINARY RESPONSE
`
`and EXHIBIT 1041 was served in its entirety by filing these documents through
`
`the Patent Trial and Appeal Case Tracking System (P-TACTS) as well as
`
`providing a courtesy copy via e-mail to the following attorneys of record for the
`
`Patent Owner listed below:
`
`Lead Counsel:
`Christopher T. Bovenkamp, Reg. No. 44,551
`cbovenkamp@ccrglaw.com
`PTAB@sternekessler.com
`CHARHON CALLAHAN ROBSON & GARZA, P.L.L.C.
`3333 Lee Parkway, Suite 460
`Dallas, TX 75219
`Tel.: (214) 521-6400
`Fax: (214) 764-8392
`
`Back-Up Counsel:
`Ararat Kapouytian, Reg. No. 40,044
`akapouytian@mkwllp.com
`MAURIEL KAPOUYTIAN WOODS LLP
`450 Sansome Street, Suite 1005
`San Francisco, California 94111
`Tel.: (415) 738-6369
`Fax: (415) 738-2315
`
`Jason A. Fitzsimmons, Reg. No. 65,367
`jfitzsimmons-PTAB@sternekessler.com
`STERNE, KESSLER, GOLDSTEIN & FOX P.L.L.C.
`1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
`Washington, D.C. 20005-3932
`Tel.: (202) 772-8701
`
`
`
`

`

`IPR2023-00330
`U.S. Patent No. 8,495,242
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`
`Fax: (202) 371-2540
`
`Richard M. Bemben, Reg. No. 68,658
`rbemben-PTAB@sternekessler.com
`STERNE, KESSLER, GOLDSTEIN & FOX P.L.L.C.
`1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
`Washington, D.C. 20005-3932
`Tel.: (202) 772-8549
`Fax: (202) 371-2540
`
`Michael D. Specht, Reg. No. 54,463
`mspecht-PTAB@sternekessler.com
`Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox P.L.L.C.
`1100 New York Avenue, N.W.
`Washington, D.C. 20005-3932
`Tel.: (202) 772-8756
`Fax: (202) 371-2540
`
`Dated: May 30, 2023
`
`
`
`
`
`_____
`
`By: /Dara Del Rosario/
`Name: Dara Del Rosario
`ROPES & GRAY LLP
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`