DocketNumber: Case No. 3:12-cv-03877-VC, Case No. 3:12-cv-03880-VC
Citation Numbers: 114 F. Supp. 3d 842
Judges: Grewal
Filed Date: 7/11/2015
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 10/18/2024
ORDER GRANTING-IN-PART MOTIONS TO STRIKE AND DENYING MOTIONS TO COMPEL
In each of these two related cases, Defendants move to strike Plaintiffs’ infringement contentions
I.
Rule 3 — 1(c) of the Patent Local Rules states that a patentee must provide “[a] chart identifying specifically where each limitation of each asserted claim is found within each Accused Instrumentality.”
“A patentee is not require[d]' to provide a claim chart for each accused product if the chart provided is representative of [charts for] ‘the other accused products.”
Once a plaintiff has served adequate charts, Patent L.R. 3-4(a) requires a defendant to produce “[s]ource code, specifications, schematics, flow charts, artwork, formulas, or other documentation sufficient to show the operation of any aspects or elements of an Accused Instrumentality identified by the patent claimant in its. Patent L.R. 3-l(c).chart.”
Three years ago Plaintiffs filed these suits, alleging Defendants infringed three patents: U.S. Patent Nos. 5,809,336, 5,440,749 and 5,530,890.
- These cases — and others — are related to a patent case Plaintiffs tried against HTC before the undersigned involving some of the same microprocessors
After lifting the stay, the court held a case management conference for these related cases in November 2014, in which it extended Plaintiffs’ deadline to file its Rule 3-1 infringement contentions until January 20. 2015.
Citing what they view as substantial deficiencies in Plaintiffs’ disclosure, Defendants refused to produce discovery or technical documents sufficient to show the operation of all of the accused instrumen-talities identified in Plaintiffs’ infringement contentions
Defendants request that the court strike Plaintiffs’ infringement contentions in their entirety for failure to comply "with Patent L.R. 3-1.
Also in the alternative, LG requests that the court compel Plaintiffs to submit infringement contentions that: (a) are limited to the accused LG instrumentalities that were previously identified in Table A.6 of Exhibit A and that include one of the disclosed microprocessors: Qual-comm’s MSM8960, MSM8660, MSM8260 and MSM7227 or TI’s . OMAP4430, OMAP4460 and OMAP4470; (b) identify specifically where each limitation of each asserted claim, is found within each accused LG product, including, at a minimum, providing a separate claim chart for each of the above seven identified- microprocessors and (c) exclude all other instru-mentalities (identified in Table A.6 of Exhibit A or otherwise) from the scope of this case for all purposes.
Plaintiffs request an order pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 37(a) compelling Defendants to produce within five business days: (a) discovery related to technical issues in response to Plaintiffs’ second set of request for. production Nos. 6-12; (b) discovery related to damages in response to Plaintiffs’ second set of requests for production No. 4 and (c) discovery from the ITC proceeding in response to Plaintiffs’ first set of request for production Nos. 1-3.
II.
This court has jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338. The presiding judge referred these related cases to the undersigned for all pretrial management.
Plaintiffs’ infringement contentions fall well short of this district’s requirements. The court explains each of three key deficiencies in turn.
First, Plaintiffs’ contentions dó not properly specify “where each limitation of each asserted claim is found within each’ Accused Instrumentality.”
The problem is with Plaintiffs’ caveat “to the extent possible.” Plaintiffs admit they did not even determine whether some accused instrumentalities in fact include any accused microprocessor,
Plaintiffs say the claim limitations apply to all of the accused microprocessors, such that Plaintiffs completely charted the microprocessors.
But ARM microprocessors are a large family of processing cores developed over
Plaintiffs also urge- that the charted accused microprocessors are representative of other microprocessors contained in the accused products.
Plaintiffs may be right that Defendants’ claims* of confusion are dubious given the ITC and HTC proceedings, or that Defendants know well Plaintiffs’ position that all modem, advanced microprocessors share the same infringing qualities relevant to the ’336 patent.
Second, Plaintiffs’ contentions provide only conclusory allegations. Plaintiffs argue their contentions are based on far more than an unsupported conclusion based “on information and belief.”
But reliance on “information and belief,” Wikipedia, legal conclusions and cursory analysis
But a bare assertion that a PHOSITA could locate the element in the accused instrumentality, without more evidence, does not comply with Rule 3-1.
Third, without explanation, Plaintiffs improperly accuse hundreds of instru-mentalities of infringing, even though they either were never made, sold, used or imported in the United States; or they were released after the expiration of the ’749 and ’890 Patents. ‘-“Whoever without authority makes, uses, offers to sell, or sells any patented invention, within the United States dr imports into the United States any patented invention during the term of the patent therefor, infringes the patent”
At least 208 of the 437 accused LG products LG has never made, sold, used or imported into the United States.
Plaintiffs’ attempt to-shift the burden to Defendants to identify which of the accused products post-dated the .expiration of the patents is improper,
IV.
Plaintiffs’ infringement contentions are plainly deficient. As for what exactly to do about that, while Defendants argue they will be unfairly prejudiced if Plaintiffs are allowed to amend beyond the seven or eight charted processors, the court is persuaded that a nondispositive order requiring supplementation'strikes the right balance. “Where appropriate, courts treat a motion to strike as a motion to compel amendment to include additional information infringement contentions.”
Plaintiffs have 14 days to amend their infringement contentions to comply with Patent L.R. 3-1. Pláintiffs must identify specifically where each limitation of each asserted claim is found within each accused instrumentality, including, at a minimum, providing a separate claim chart for each accused microprocessor. Plaintiffs must exclude any product for which Plaintiffs cannot show a good faith basis to believe infringement occurred in the United States during the life of the patent of which it is accused of infringing. Because “[cjourts in this district generally do not order defendants to proceed' with discovery in patent cases until the plaintiff provides infringement contentions that comply with Patent L.R. 3-1,”
SO ORDERED.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 (Docket No. 83); Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 (Docket No. 97).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 62; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 81.
. Patent L.R. 3-l(c); see also Silicon Labs., Inc. v. Cresta Tech. Corp., Case No. 5:14-cv-03227-PSG, 2015 WL 846679, at *1 (N.D.Cal. Feb. 25, 2015); Shared Memory Graphics LLC v. Apple, Inc., 812 F.Supp.2d 1022, 1024 (N.D.Cal.2010); Bender v. Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Case No, 09-cv-1156-PHJ, 2010 WL 1689465, at *2-3 (N.D.Cal. Apr. 26, 2010); InterTrust Techs. Corp. v. Microsoft Corp., Case No. 01-cv-1640-SBA, 2003 WL 23120174, at *2 (N.D.Cal. Dec. 1, 2003) ("[The Rules] are designed to make the parties more efficient, to streamline the litigation process, and to articulate with specificity the claims and theory of a plaintiff's infringement claims.”).
.Shared Memory Graphics, 812 F.Supp.2d at 1025 (quoting View Eng'g, Inc. v. Robotic Vision Sys., Inc., 208 F.3d 981, 986 (Fed.Cir.2000)).
. Antonious v. Spalding & Evenflo Cos., Inc., 275 F.3d 1066, 1075 (Fed.Cir.2002).
. Solannex, Inc. v. MiaSole, Inc., Case No. 11-cv-00171-PSG, 2013 WL 1701062, at *3 (N.D.Cal. April 18, 2013).
. Infineon Technologies AG v. Volterra Semiconductor, Case No. 11-cv-06239-MMC, 2013 WL 5366131, at *4, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109165, at *5, 15 (N.D.Cal. July 31, 2013) (citing Renesas Tech. Corp. v. Nanya Tech. Corp., Case No. 03-cv-5709-JF, 2004 WL 2600466, at *4, 2004 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23601, at *9, 12 (N.D.Cal. Nov. 10, 2004) (holding Patent L.R. 3-1 does not require a claim chart for every accused product; plaintiff need only provide enough information to "permit a reasonable inference that all accused products infringe.”).
. Silicon Labs., Inc. v. Cresta Tech. Corp., Case No. 5:14-cv-03227-PSG, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22951, at *3 (N.D.Cal. Nov. 10, 2004) (citing Bender, 2010 WL 1689465, at *3).
. Patent L.R. 3-4(a).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 1.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66-1 at ¶ 10; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90-1 at ¶ 10.
. See id.
. See id.
. See HTC Corp. et al. v. Technology Properties Ltd. et al., Case No. 5:08-cv-00882-PSG.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3888-VC, Docket No. 90 at 2; Docket No. 90-1 at ¶ 5; Case No. 12-cv3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 2.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 12; Inv. No. 337-TA-853. .
. See id.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 20 at 5-6; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 37 at 5-6,
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 22.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58, at 4; Docket No. 58-1 at 2-6; Docket No. 58-2, Ex. 1; Docket No. 58-3, Ex. 2; Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3; Docket No. 58-5, Ex. 4; Docket No. 58-6, Ex. 5; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 5; Docket No. 80-2, Ex. A; Docket No. 80-3, Ex. B; Docket No. 80-4, Ex. G-1; Docket No. 80-5, Ex. G-2; Docket No. 80-6, Ex. G-3.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-2, Ex. 1; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80-3, Ex. B.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-3, Ex. 2; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80-2, Ex. A.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No, 58-4, Ex. 3; Docket No. 58-5, Ex. 4; Docket No. 58-6, Ex. 5; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80-4, Ex. G-1; Docket No. 80-5, Ex. G-2; Docket No. 80-6, Ex. G-3.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 6. Because the parties did not execute a "crossuse” agreement for discovery produced in the ITC proceeding, Plaintiffs served their infringement contentions without the benefit of using discovery already obtained from Defendants.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90-1 at ¶ 5.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 62 at 4; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 96 at 4.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 at 7; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 8.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 at 1; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 1.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 at 1.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 1.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 62 at 1; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 81 at 1.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3863-VC, Docket No. 41 at 1.
. Patent L.R. 3-1(c).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 5-7; Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-3, Ex.2 at 31-54. LG does not appear to publicly disclose the specific microprocessor used in all of its product lines. See Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90-1 at ¶ 8.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No, 66 at 8-9; Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3 at 7-20; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No, 90 at 8-9.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 7; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 7.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 7; Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3 at 7-20; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 8.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3778-VC, Docket No. 80 at 2.
. Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3; Docket No. 58-5, Ex. 4; Docket No. 58-6, Ex. 5.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 10-11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 11-12.
. See Case No, 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 7; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 7-8.
. See Case No, 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 9; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 9-10.
.. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 10; Docket No. 58-4 at 7-12; Case No. 12-cv3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 10.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC Docket No. 80 at 6.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No, 90 at 11-12.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 11-12.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 11-12; cf. Shared Memory Graphics, 812 F.Supp.2d at 1025; Netlist, Inc. v. Smart Storage Sys., Case No. 13-cv-05889-YGR, 2014 WL 1320325, at *4, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45670, at *15-16 (N.D.Cal. Apr. 1, 2014) ("Rather than cite to a particular claim element that it believes is insufficiently linked to the accused product, [the alleged infringer] merely cites to the entire contentions and asserts that '[a] review’ of the contentions 'confirms’ that not every claim element. is mapped on to the accused product.”); ASUS Computer Int'l v. Round Rock Research, LLC, Case No. 12-cv-02099-JST, 2013 WL 5545276, at *3, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145824, at *3 (N.D.Cal. Oct. 8, 2013) (holding the infringement' contentions provided adequate notice when alleged infringer did not explain why the infringement contentions did not give notice of patentee’s theories of infringement of representative products).
. E.g. Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3; Docket No. 58-5, Ex. 4; Docket No. 58-6, Ex. 5 (footnote 1 of each chart).
. See Silicon Labs., 2015 WL 846679, at * 1; Bender v. Infineon Technologies N. Am. Corp., Case No. 09-cv-02112-JW, 2010 WL 964197, at *1 (N.D.Cal. Mar. 16, 2010). Like Silicon Labs, publicly, available documents, demon- . strate "different structures that are material to the infringement of at least one of the asserted claims.” Silicon Labs., 2015 WL 846679, at *1. Defendants cite the ARM1176 processor as an..example, see, e.g., Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 at 11, which Plaintiffs dispute, see, e.g., Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 12-13.
. See Bender, 2010 WL 1689465 at *1-2; Ameranth, Inc. v. Pizza Hut, Inc., Case No. 12-CV-1627-JLS, 2013 WL 3894880, at *1 (S.D.Cal. July 26, 2013).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58 at 3, 11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC Docket No, 80 at 12.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 3, 11; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC Docket No. 90 at 2, 11, 12; cf. Infineon, 2013 WL 5366131, at *4, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109165, at *5.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 14; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 3, 14-15; cf. Solannex, Inc., 2013 WL 1701062, at *3 (holding a plaintiff cannot satisfy its Rule 3-1 obligations by responding with' “nothing more than a conclusion based ‘on information and belief that something ■exists or occurs.”) (citations'omitted).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 14; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 3, 14-15.
. Solannex, 2013 WL 1701062, at *4 (citations omitted).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-4, Ex. 3; Docket No. 58-5, Ex. 4; Docket No. 58-6, Ex. 5. See also Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 7 (“This lack of support could not have resulted from lack of available information regarding the design and operation of the accused functionality, because Plaintiffs admit that they had public technical information available at the time they prepared the Contentions.”); Docket No. 80-8,' Ex. D at 2 ("For example, PDS provided numerous citations to public ARM documents to support its contentions.”).
. See, e.g., Solannex, 2013 WL 1701062, at *3; Theranos, Inc. v. Fuisz Pharma LLC, Case No. 11-CV-05236-YGR, 2012 WL 6000798, at *3 (N.D.Cal. Nov. 30, 2012) (“simply alleging ‘on information and belief' and representing 'vague, conclusory, and confusing statements’ does not satisfy the requirement that the identifications be ‘as specific as possible.' ”); CSR Tech. Inc. v. Freescale Semiconductor, Inc., Case No. 12-cv-02619-RS, 2013 WL 503077, at *7-8 (N.D.Cal. Feb. 8, 2013).
. Cf. France Telecom, S.A. v. Marvell Semiconductor, Inc., Cáse No. 12-cv-04967-WHA, 2013 WL 1878912, at *1 (N.D.Cal. May 3,
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 14-15; Case No. 12-cv-3880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 3, 15.
. See Shared Memory Graphics, 812 F.Supp.2d at 1025. -
. See, e.g., Bender, 2010 WL 1689465, at.*4 (“Merely alluding to the fact that any electrical engineer would understand the infringement contentions is not sufficient.”).
. Shared Memory Graphics, 812 F.Supp.2d at 1025; Bender, 2010 WL 1689465, at *4.
. See Bender v. Maxim Integrated Prods., Inc., Case No. 09-cv-Ol 152-SI, 2010 WL 2991257, at *2 (N.D.Cal. July 29, 2010).
. 35 U.S.C. § 271(a) (emphasis added).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 1-2, Ex. A; Docket No. 1-3; Ex.' B.
. See Case No. 12-cv-38880-VC, Docket No. 80 at 3; Docket No. 80-10, Ex. F; Microsoft Corp. v.AT&T Corp., 550 U.S. 437, 441, 127 S.Ct. 1746, 167 L.Ed.2d 737 (2007) (("[The] general rule under United States patent law is that no infringement occurs when a patented product is made and sold in another country”). There is a "strong policy against extraterritorial liability” in the patent law. See Halo Elecs., Inc. v. Pulse Elees., Inc., 769 F.3d 1371, 1378 (Fed.Cir.2014).
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No, 58-1 at 1113; Docket No. 58-3, Ex. 2 at 48; Docket No. 58-13, Ex. 11.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 16; See Case No. 12-cv-38880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 4, 16.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 66 at 16; See Case No. 12-cv-38880-VC, Docket No. 90 at 16-17.
. See Case No. 12-cv-3877-VC, Docket No. 58-6, 58-7, Ex. 5; Bender v. Maxim Integrated Prods., Inc., Case No. 09-cv-01152-SI, 2010 WL 1135762, at *2 (N.D.Cal. March 22, 2010) (”[P]laintiff bears the burden of providing infringement contentions that specify the location of every claim element within the accused products, so that the Court can make a principled decision on whether discovery will proceed.”).
. Blue Spike, LLC v. Adobe Sys., Inc., Case No. 14-CV-01647-YGR, 2015 WL 335842, at *4 (N.D.Cal. Jan. 26, 2015) (citing Innovative Automation LLC v. Kaleidescape, Inc., Case No. 13-cv05651 JD, 2014 WL 5408454, at *3 (N.D.Cal. Oct. 23, 2014); France Telecom, 2013 WL 1878912, at *2 (citations omitted); FusionArc, Inc. v. Solidus Networks, Inc., Case No. 06-cv06760-RMW, 2007 WL 1052900, at *2 (N.D.Cal. Apr. 5, 2007)).
. Digital Reg of Texas, LLC v. Adobe Systems Inc., 2013 WL 633406, at *5 (N.D.Cal. Feb. 20, 2013).