B.E. Technology, L.L.C. v. Google LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Delaware resolves several summary judgment motions in a patent infringement action involving B.E. Technology, L.L.C. and Google LLC. The court denies B.E. Technology's motions, grants Google's motion for summary judgment based on patent ineligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101, and denies Google's remaining motions as moot. The opinion addresses representative-claim analysis, law of the case, and the Alice framework for patent eligibility.

Holdings

1. Prior holdings that claim 1 of the '410 patent was representative of the asserted claim continued to extend to claim 25 of the '440 patent, notwithstanding the subsequent invalidation of claim 1 of the '410 patent.
2. Claim 25 of the '440 patent is directed to the abstract idea of providing real-time targeted advertising based on information known about a user.
3. Claim 25 does not contain an inventive concept sufficient to transform the abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter.
4. Google was entitled to summary judgment that claim 25 of the '440 patent is patent-ineligible under 35 U.S.C. § 101.

Questions Presented

1. Whether prior rulings treating claim 1 of the '410 patent as representative of the asserted claim continued to govern the patent-eligibility analysis after claim 1 of the '410 patent was invalidated.
2. Whether claim 25 of the '440 patent is directed to an abstract idea under Alice step one.
3. Whether the transferring, determining, selecting, and real-time limitations, individually or in combination, provide an inventive concept under Alice step two.
4. Whether summary judgment should be entered on Google's patent-ineligibility defense under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
5. Whether Google's motion for summary judgment of noninfringement based on prosecution disclaimer and its motion for leave to file a sur-reply became moot after the patent-ineligibility ruling.

Disposition

other