Apple Inc. sued Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. for infringement
of five U.S. patents, including U.S. Patent Nos. 5,946,647 (the
Analyzer Server patent), 8,046,721 (the Slide-to-Unlock patent),
and 8,074,172 (the Autocorrect patent). The district court entered
a judgment of $119.6 million for Apple for infringement of these
three patents by Samsung. The district court denied
Samsung's motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL). In a
decision on February 26, 2016, the Federal Circuit reversed,
holding that Samsung did not infringe the Analyzer Server patent
and that the Slide-to-Unlock and Autocorrect patents are invalid
for obviousness.
The Analyzer Server patent is directed to software to detect
structures such as phone numbers in text, turning those into links,
which allows a user to click on the structure to take an action,
such as making a phone call. The independent claim requires
"an analyzer server for detecting structures in the
data, and for linking actions to the detected structures." The
district court adopted the Federal Circuit's previous
construction of the term "analyzer server" to require
that the analyzer server is separate from a client that receives
data (Apple Inc. v. Motorola, Inc., 757 F.3d 1286, 1304
(Fed. Cir. 2014). Apple argued that the software code stored
in shared program libraries in Samsung's Browser and Messenger
applications were the "analyzer server." Experts for
both parties, however, testified that the shared library code is
"used" by the Messenger and Browser applications, and not
run separately. As such, the Federal Circuit held that no
reasonable jury could have concluded that the accused device met
the "analyzer server" requirement, and reversed the
district court's denial of Samsung's motion for JMOL on
non-infringement.
The Slide-to-Unlock patent is directed to the iPhone's
"slide to unlock" feature, where a user can slide a
moving image across the screen of the phone with his finger to
unlock the phone. The parties do not dispute that two references,
Plaisant in view of Neonode, disclose all of the claimed features
of the Slide-to-Unlock patent. Unpersuaded by Apple's
arguments, the Federal Circuit held that Plaisant and Neonode are
analogous art, and that the strong prima facie case of
obviousness was not negated by Apple's weak secondary
consideration evidence. The Federal Circuit also rejected
Apple's argument that Plaisant taught away from the claimed
invention because the claimed feature disclosed in Plaisant is not
preferred ("the 'mere disclosure of more than one
alternative' does not amount to teaching away from one of the
alternatives where the reference does not 'criticize,
discredit, or otherwise discourage the' solution presented by
the disclosure.") The Federal Circuit held the
Slide-to-Unlock patent obvious in view of Plaisant and
Neonode.
The Autocorrect patent covers "autocorrect" software on
the phone that automatically corrects typing errors. The
Federal Circuit noted that autocorrection features were known in
the prior art, and that the combination of two prior art
references, Robinson and Xrgomics, results in Apple's
Autocorrect invention. The Federal Circuit stated that the
specification defines the field broadly as the general field of
text input on portable electronic devices, and that Robinson and
Xrgomics are within this general field. The Federal Court
similarly found Apple's secondary consideration arguments
"very weak," and not sufficient to overcome the strong
prima facie case of obviousness. The Federal Circuit
held the Autocorrect patent obvious in view of Robinson and
Xrgomics.
This article is intended to provide information of general interest to the public and is not intended to offer legal advice about specific situations or problems. Brinks Gilson & Lione does not intend to create an attorney-client relationship by offering this information and review of the information shall not be deemed to create such a relationship. You should consult a lawyer if you have a legal matter requiring attention. For further information, please contact a Brinks Gilson & Lione lawyer.