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Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 1 of 11 PageID #: 1751
`
`IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
`FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT TEXAS
`MARSHALL DIVISION
`
`AGIS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT LLC,
`
`Plaintiff,
`
`
`
`v.
`
` Civil Action No. 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP
`
`SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD. and
`SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC.,
`
` JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
`
`Defendants.
`
`DEFENDANTS’ OBJECTIONS TO THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S
` REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION ENTERED APRIL 10, 2023
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 2 of 11 PageID #: 1752
`
`TABLE OF CONTENTS
`
`Page
`
`I.
`
`II.
`
`STANDARD OF REVIEW ................................................................................................ 3
`
`ARGUMENT ...................................................................................................................... 3
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`AGIS’s Assertion of the Same Patents Against the Same Products in Two
`Different Cases is Improper Claim Splitting .......................................................... 3
`
`The Report Erred in Not Dismissing AGIS’s Claims of Infringement of
`the ’829 and ’123 Patents Against Products at Issue in AGIS I .............................. 6
`
`III.
`
`CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................... 8
`
`i
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 3 of 11 PageID #: 1753
`
`The Samsung defendants respectfully submit that the District Court should reconsider the
`
`portion of the Report and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge, Dkt. No. 54
`
`(“Report”), recommending denial of Samsung’s motion to dismiss Counts III and IV of the
`
`Amended Complaint alleging that Samsung infringes U.S. Pat. Nos. 9,749,829 (“’829 Patent”) and
`
`9,820,123 (“’123 Patent”), respectively. Those counts should be dismissed, at least in part, due to
`
`improper claim splitting for the following reasons:
`
` The ’829 and ’123 Patents were asserted against Samsung in a prior suit (AGIS I1) alleging
`
`infringement by a list of Samsung Galaxy products that is substantively identical to the list
`
`of Samsung Galaxy products accused here. See Report, 3.
`
` While the accused Samsung Galaxy products are the same in both cases, AGIS identifies
`
`different allegedly infringing apps purportedly pre-loaded on the Samsung Galaxy
`
`products. In AGIS I, AGIS’s complaint identified a list of Samsung Galaxy products along
`
`with Google’s Find My Device and Google Maps and Samsung’s Find My Mobile apps
`
`which were alleged to be pre-loaded on the products. In this case, AGIS’s Amended
`
`Complaint identifies the same list of Samsung Galaxy products along with the U.S.
`
`Government’s Team Awareness Kit (TAK) apps and Samsung’s Knox app which are also
`
`alleged to be pre-loaded on the products.
`
` Taking the allegations of both complaints as true for purposes of the motion to dismiss,
`
`and recognizing that AGIS identifies the same Samsung Galaxy products in both
`
`complaints, all of the identified Samsung Galaxy products, according to AGIS, have the
`
`five apps accused in both cases pre-loaded on them when sold to consumers.
`
` Samsung moved to dismiss Counts III and IV of AGIS’s Amended Complaint because
`
`1 AGIS Software Dev. LLC v. Samsung Elec. Co., No. 5:22-cv-04825-BLF (N.D. Cal), originally
`2:19-cv-00362-JRG (E.D. Tex.) prior to transfer.
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 4 of 11 PageID #: 1754
`
`AGIS accused the same products in both AGIS I and this case, and splitting infringement
`
`allegations directed to different features of the same product across multiple suits is
`
`improper. In re PersonalWeb Techs. LLC, 961 F.3d 1365, 1373, 1375 (Fed. Cir. 2020).
`
` During the hearing, AGIS represented that it is not alleging infringement against all of the
`
`same products at issue in AGIS I, and that the allegations in its complaints that all the
`
`accused Galaxy products have all five apps pre-loaded on them is not necessarily true.
`
`AGIS represented that in this case it is only accusing those Galaxy products with either or
`
`both of TAK and Knox pre-loaded when sold to consumers. In other words, AGIS
`
`narrowed its allegations to exclude Galaxy products without TAK or Knox pre-loaded on
`
`them.
`
` The Report recommends denying Samsung’s motion based on AGIS’s representation that
`
`the universe of accused products is in fact narrower than set forth in its Amended
`
`Complaint. See Report, 2, 3. This was error.
`
` While AGIS’s representation narrows the scope of accused products here to exclude
`
`Galaxy products without TAK or Knox pre-loaded, it does not resolve AGIS’s improper
`
`claim splitting because AGIS still accuses products in this case that were also accused in
`
`AGIS I. For example, Galaxy products sold with at least one AGIS I-accused app, e.g.,
`
`Google Maps, and at least one app accused in this case, e.g., Knox, pre-loaded on them are
`
`accused in this case and were also accused in AGIS I.
`
` The Report should have recommended granting Samsung’s motion as to those Galaxy
`
`products accused in both this case and AGIS I. In other words, Counts III and IV should
`
`be dismissed as to all Samsung Galaxy products with either TAK or Knox pre-loaded
`
`when sold to consumers to the extent those products also have any app accused in AGIS
`
`I—Find My Device, Google Maps or Find My Mobile—pre-loaded.
`
`2
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 5 of 11 PageID #: 1755
`
`I.
`
`STANDARD OF REVIEW
`
`A party may serve and file specific, written objections to a Report and Recommendation
`
`of a Magistrate Judge. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b); Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b); L.R. CV-72(c). If a party files
`
`objections, the District Court conducts a de novo review of the Report and Recommendation. Id.
`
`The District Court may accept, reject, or modify the Report and Recommendation, in whole or in
`
`part. 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(C).
`
`II.
`
`ARGUMENT
`
`A.
`
`AGIS’s Assertion of the Same Patents Against the Same Products in Two
`Different Cases is Improper Claim Splitting
`
`AGIS’s allegations of infringement of the ’829 and ’123 Patents in Counts III and IV of its
`
`Amended Complaint in this action are based on the same allegedly infringing transactions at issue
`
`in AGIS I—i.e., the making, using, selling and importation of 264 specifically identified Samsung
`
`Galaxy products that were also alleged in AGIS I to infringe the same two patents. See Mot., Dkt.
`
`39, 3-4 (citing Am. Compl., Dkt 1, ¶ 15; AGIS I Compl, Dkt. 39, Ex. A, ¶ 15). The allegations of
`
`infringement of the ’829 and ’123 Patents in this case with respect to products at issue in AGIS I
`
`are therefore barred by the doctrine of claim splitting. PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1375 (plaintiff
`
`must “raise in a single lawsuit all grounds of recovery arising from a particular transaction”); see
`
`also Mot., Dkt. 39, 6-7, 11-14.
`
`In AGIS I, AGIS alleged infringement of the ’829 and ’123 Patents based on two Google
`
`apps (Find My Device and Google Maps) and one Samsung app (Find My Mobile) alleged to be
`
`pre-loaded on 269 Samsung’s Galaxy products. See Opp., Dkt. 42, 2-3; AGIS I Compl, Dkt. 39,
`
`Ex. A, ¶ 15 (accused products are “pre-configured or adapted with” “Google Maps [and] Find My
`
`Device”).2 Here, AGIS’s Amended Complaint alleges infringement based on the U.S.
`
`2 Find My Mobile was added in AGIS’s infringement contentions using similar language.
`
`3
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 6 of 11 PageID #: 1756
`
`Government’s Team Awareness Kit (“TAK”) apps and Samsung’s Knox app, also alleged to be
`
`pre-loaded on a substantively identical list Samsung Galaxy products. See Mot., Dkt. 39, 3-4
`
`(citing Am. Compl., Dkt. 1, ¶ 16 (accused products are “configured and/or adapted with” “TAK,
`
`ATAK, and CivTAK and Samsung Knox”)). In opposing Samsung’s motion to dismiss due to
`
`improper claim splitting, AGIS argued that the differences in the accused product features (i.e.,
`
`apps) at issue in the earlier AGIS I suit and the current suit mean that claim splitting does not apply.
`
`See Opp., Dkt. 42, 12-14. But the Federal Circuit has expressly rejected this argument.
`
`As explained in Samsung’s motion, in In re PersonalWeb Techs. LLC, 961 F.3d 1365, 1375
`
`(Fed. Cir. 2020), PersonalWeb accused the same product, Amazon’s S3 system, in successive
`
`lawsuits, and argued that the functionalities accused in the successive lawsuits were entirely
`
`different features, and thus, different “products.” See Mot., Dkt. 39, 12-13. Specifically, in the
`
`first lawsuit, PersonalWeb “accused only multipart upload functionality of Amazon’s S3 system”
`
`and subsequently in a second lawsuit accused “cache control functionality, an entirely different
`
`feature of Amazon’s S3 system.” PersonalWeb Techs, 961 F.3d at 1375 (emphasis added). The
`
`court nevertheless ruled the second lawsuit as improper claim splitting, reasoning that “[a]t most,
`
`PersonalWeb has shown that it emphasized different facts in support of a different theory of
`
`infringement in the prior case. But that is not enough to avoid claim preclusion.” 3 Id. at 1376.
`
`This is precisely the same tack AGIS took here. See, e.g., Opp., 12 (“AGIS I involved
`
`allegations of infringement of the Google applications. . . . The present action alleges infringement
`
`of the ’829, ’123, ’970, and ’838 Patents by a different set of non-Google applications . . . .”).
`
`AGIS attempted to characterize its infringement allegations against different features (i.e., apps)
`
`3 As also noted in Samsung’s motion, and not disputed by AGIS, claim preclusion principles are
`applicable to claim splitting, but do not require a prior judgment. Mot., 13 n.6; Opp. at 5-6.
`
`4
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 7 of 11 PageID #: 1757
`
`of the same products as different claims properly brought in different lawsuits. However, AGIS’s
`
`allegations in this lawsuit, even if they raise different facts and different theories of infringement
`
`than in AGIS I, are not enough to avoid claim preclusion. PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1376.
`
`In
`
`its Opposition, AGIS attempted
`
`to distinguish PersonalWeb by completely
`
`mischaracterizing it. First, AGIS correctly identified a discussion in PersonalWeb where the court
`
`determined that, contrary to PersonalWeb’s position, there was some overlap in the features of the
`
`Amazon S3 product that were accused in the prior and current cases. Opp., 13 (citing
`
`PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1376). But AGIS then argued: “Accordingly, the Federal Circuit found
`
`that ‘complaints in the customer cases and the complaint in the Texas case relate to the same set
`
`of transactions.’” Opp., 13 (quoting but not citing PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1376) (emphasis
`
`added). This is the opposite of what the Federal Circuit said. Rather than relying on the
`
`overlapping allegations in the two cases to find claim preclusion, the Federal Circuit stated that
`
`the overlap is irrelevant because the same products are accused in both cases:
`
`In any event, regardless of the breadth of the specific infringement theories
`PersonalWeb pursued in the [prior] Texas case, it is clear that the complaints in the
`customer cases and the complaint in the Texas case relate to the same set of
`transactions. In the Texas case, PersonalWeb alleged that it had been injured by acts
`of infringement consisting of the manufacture, use, sale, importation, and/or offer for
`sale of the Amazon S3 product. Every alleged act of infringement in the eight
`customer cases before us is likewise based on the use of the same Amazon S3 product.
`
`At most, PersonalWeb has shown that it emphasized different facts in support of a
`different theory of infringement in the prior case. But that is not enough to avoid
`claim preclusion.
`
`PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1376 (emphasis added). Thus, different accused features or apps on the
`
`same accused Galaxy products are not different accused products for purposes of claim splitting.
`
`If the same product that was accused in AGIS I is also accused in this case, the infringement claim
`
`against that product is barred by the doctrine of claim splitting even if different features are
`
`accused. Id.
`
`5
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 8 of 11 PageID #: 1758
`
`B.
`
`The Report Erred in Not Dismissing AGIS’s Claims of Infringement of the
`’829 and ’123 Patents Against Products at Issue in AGIS I
`
`At the hearing on Samsung’s motion to dismiss, AGIS represented that it is not alleging
`
`infringement against all of the same products at issue in AGIS I. Rather, despite identifying in its
`
`Amended Complaint a list of 264 products that is substantively identical to the accused products
`
`it identified in the AGIS I complaint, AGIS explained in response to questioning from the Court
`
`that the allegations in its Amended Complaint should be interpreted as extending only to those
`
`products on which the accused TAK or Knox apps are pre-loaded when sold to consumers, and
`
`not devices that are merely capable of running these apps. See Hearing Tr., Ex. A, at 43:4-23,
`
`45:7-16; see also id. at 54:24-55:9; Report, 3.4
`
`In recommending denial of Samsung’s motion, the Report relied on AGIS’s representation
`
`that the scope of the accused products in this case is different than the scope of the accused products
`
`in AGIS I. Report, 3. This was error because AGIS’s representation, while narrowing its accused
`
`set of Samsung Galaxy products in this case, does not resolve AGIS’s improper claim splitting.
`
`To the extent there is any overlap in the accused products in AGIS I and this case—i.e., products
`
`that have pre-loaded on them at least one app that was accused in AGIS I and one app accused
`
`here—the allegations against that set of overlapping products with respect to the ’829 and ’123
`
`patents must be dismissed in this case due to claim splitting. AGIS acknowledged as much, noting
`
`during its narrowing of accused products at the hearing that in “the list of devices in Paragraph 16
`
`of our [Amended] Complaint . . . there may be, you know, 30 of them each that have been sold
`
`with TAK which were not at issue in AGIS I.” Hearing Tr., Ex. A at 43:14-18 (emphasis added).
`
`4 Neither the cited colloquy nor the Report, p. 3, refers specifically to the Knox app, instead
`referring to “TAK and related applications.” Samsung understands this to include Knox. See, e.g.,
`Hearing Tr., Ex. A, at 40:13-14. But to the extent the Report does not address Knox, that was an
`error to which Samsung objects. Both TAK and Knox are accused and were identified in the
`briefing, and should therefore be expressly included in the order resolving the motion.
`
`6
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 9 of 11 PageID #: 1759
`
`Examples of products potentially at issue in this case and the scope of what must be
`
`excluded are illustrated below:
`
`AGIS’s infringement claims against the set of products that have both AGIS I-accused
`
`features (i.e., the Find My Device, Google Maps and/or Find My Mobile apps) and currently
`
`accused features (i.e., the TAK and/or Knox apps) involve the same set of allegedly infringing
`
`transactions—i.e., the making, using, selling and importation of those products—and cannot be
`
`split between two cases. See PersonalWeb, 961 F.3d at 1375 (“Regardless of the number of
`
`substantive theories available to a party and regardless of the differences in the evidence needed
`
`to support each of those theories, a party may not split a single claim into separate grounds of
`
`7
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 10 of 11 PageID #: 1760
`
`recovery and raise those separate grounds in successive lawsuits.”) (citations omitted). All claims
`
`for infringement of the ’829 and ’123 Patents against products with at least one AGIS I-accused
`
`app pre-loaded must therefore be dismissed.
`
`III.
`
`CONCLUSION
`
`For the foregoing reasons, Samsung respectfully submits that the Court should review and
`
`reconsider the Report and grant Samsung’s Partial Motion to Dismiss Counts III and IV of AGIS’s
`
`Amended Complaint as to all products with at least one of the Find My Device, Google Maps and
`
`Find My Mobile apps accused in AGIS I pre-loaded when sold to customers.
`
`Dated: April 24, 2022
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`/s/ Neil P. Sirota
`
` Neil P. Sirota
`
`neil.sirota@bakerbotts.com
` Margaret M. Welsh
` margaret.welsh@bakerbotts.com
` BAKER BOTTS L.L.P.
`
`30 Rockefeller Plaza
` New York, NY 10112-4498
`
`Phone: (212) 408-2500
`
`Fax: (212) 408-2501
`
` Melissa R. Smith
`
`Texas State Bar No. 24001351
` melissa@gillamsmithlaw.com
` GILLAM & SMITH, LLP
`
`303 South Washington Avenue
` Marshall, Texas 75670
`
`Phone: (903) 934-8450
`
`Fax: (903) 934-9257
`
`Counsel for Defendants Samsung
`Electronics Co., Ltd. and Samsung
`Electronics America, Inc.
`
`8
`
`

`

`Case 2:22-cv-00263-JRG-RSP Document 55 Filed 04/24/23 Page 11 of 11 PageID #: 1761
`
`CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
`
`I hereby certify that all counsel of record who are deemed to have consented to electronic
`
`service are being served April 24, 2023, with a copy of this document via the Court’s CM/ECF
`
`system.
`
`/s/ Neil P. Sirota
`Neil P. Sirota
`
`9
`
`

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