A Blog About Intellectual Property Litigation and the District of Delaware


Entries for tag: MTD

Court Holds That Section 230 Does Not Protect Meta / Facebook From the Actions of Its Algorithms

Andrew E. Russell, Nov. 18, 2024
MTD Motion to Dismiss

Artist's interpretation of the Sword of Algorithms piercing the Shield of § 230.
Artist's interpretation of the Sword of Algorithms piercing the Shield of § 230. AI-Generated, displayed with permission

There has been a lot of political talk lately about § 230 of the Communications Decency Act, 47 U.S.C. § 230, which provides immunity for certain kinds of claims related to user-generated content on social media. It's a hot-button, IP-adjacent topic.

Judge Williams today addressed the question of whether § 230 operates to shield Meta / Facebook from the effects of its algorithms. The case is between former Governer Mike Huckabee and Meta, and involves privacy, publicity, false light, and unjust enrichment claims related to ads Facebook hosted that suggested Governor Huckabee was associated with a CBD product:

[Plaintiff claims that t]o promote …
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Check Those Cites

Emily DiBenedetto, Aug. 6, 2024
Alice Step One MTD

Alice ponders the internet of things
Alice ponders the internet of things AI-Generated, displayed with permission

Last week in Ignite Enterprise Software Solutions, LLC et al. v. NGData, US Inc. and NGData N.V., C.A. 23-1209 (D. Del. Aug. 2, 2024), Judge Murphy dinged defendants for stale citations, including failing to cite recent Federal Circuit precedent on the level of detail required in patent pleadings.

We flagged the case that this Court called the "most recent and most relevant Federal Circuit authority" back when it came out: Bot M8 LLC v. Sony Corp. of Am., C.A. No. 2020-2218, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20624 (Fed. Cir. July 13, 2021).

Analysis of Every Claim is Not Required in the Complaint

The holding from Bot is …

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Court Denies Motion to Dismiss That Was Contingent on a Claim Construction Issue

Andrew E. Russell, May 17, 2024
MTD FRCP 12(b)(6)

Trash Can Basket
Gary Chan, Unsplash

If you file a motion to dismiss and it's contingent on resolution of a claim construction issue in your favor, you're at risk of being denied. We saw that yesterday in a case before Judge Hall, where she denied a motion to dismiss in advance of the Markman hearing:

ORAL ORDER: Having been reassigned this case, having reviewed the briefing filed in connection with Medacta's pending Motion to Dismiss Count III (regarding infringement of the '678 patent) for Failure to State a Claim (D.I. 12 ), and it appearing that the outcome of the Motion depends on the Courts claim construction of a particular term, and in light of the fact that claim construction disputes are …
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Judge Noreika Denies § 101 Motion Without Addressing Merits Where Scheduling Order Permits Assertion of Additional Claims

Andrew E. Russell, May 10, 2024
MTD Motion to Dismiss

Pixelated Game Over screen on an oversized PAC-MAN arcade machine
Sigmund, Unsplash

Judge Noreika issued an interesting order yesterday denying a § 101 motion to dismiss. According to the docket, shortly after the defendant filed its motion to dismiss—and contrary to what we found when we last looked at this—the Court directed the parties to meet-and-confer on a proposed schedule.

While the motion to dismiss was pending, the Court held a scheduling conference and issued a scheduling order. In it, the parties agreed to a real case narrowing proposal (without court intervention!), with plaintiff to initially cut back to 20 asserted claims per patent and 50 total by initial contentions, and then further cut back to 25 total just before final contentions.

After the Court entered the schedule, …

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Judge Williams Sustains Objections to R&R, Dismisses Complaint Under § 101

Andrew E. Russell, April 20, 2024
MTD Motion to Dismiss

Scanning a Network Printer
AI-Generated, displayed with permission

In some ways, the title says it all—but here is a bit more detail. In Throughtek Co., Ltx v. Reolink Innovation Inc., C.A. No. 23-218-GBW-SRF, D.I. 60 (D. Del. Apr. 19, 2024), the patent at issue claimed a system for identifying a networked device in order to establish a connection to it, by scanning a bar code or other image patter on the device.

The defendant moved to dismiss under § 101, arguing that the patent was directed to an abstract idea.

Judge Fallon issued an R&R holding that using the bar code for the connection information solved a problem necessarily rooted in computer technology, and was a specific improvement to computer …

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Court Rejects Motion to Dismiss Based on License Defense, Holding that Defendant Cannot Rely on Documents Outside of a Complaint—Even If Plaintiff Doesn't Object

Andrew E. Russell, Feb. 2, 2024
MTD 12(b)(6)

Crumpled, discarded motions to dismiss
Steve Johnson, Unsplash

Judge Burke issued an interesting R&R denying a motion to dismiss this week, in Parus Holdings Inc. v. Amazon.com, Inc., C.A. No. 23-190-GBW-CJB (D. Del.).

The defendant moved to dismiss based on a license defense, attaching the license. The plaintiff responded, itself attaching and relying on the license, as well as on other materials, such as a declaration from its CEO.

The Court rejected the motion—not because the defendant isn't licensed, but because it cannot even reach that issue on a motion to dismiss:

In resolving motions to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), . . . courts generally consider only the allegations in the complaint, exhibits attached to the complaint, matters of public …
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Court Dismisses All Claims with Prejudice After IPR—Even Though Some Were Not Invalidated

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 23, 2023
Voluntary Dismissal MTD

Dart in Target
Silvan Arnet, Unsplash

Both parties in Wrinkl, Inc. v. Meta Platforms Inc., C.A. No. 20-1345-RGA (D. Del.) agreed that the case should be dismissed after the PTAB invalidated 50 of the 54 asserted claims, but disagreed about whether the remaining 4 claims should be dismissed with prejudice.

The plaintiff claimed that it did not intend to assert the remaining claims, but that it should retain the right to, and that it is unaware of caselaw holding that the Court cannot dismiss some claims with prejudice and some without.

The defendant argued that the Court cannot split up the claims, and must dismiss all or nothing with prejudice:

Defendants contend there is no legal support or precedent …
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In Response to § 101 Motion, Judge Noreika Orders Plaintiff to Identify Asserted Claims (a Prelude to Denial?)

Andrew E. Russell, Oct. 22, 2023
MTD Motion to Dismiss

"How many more claims will we assert? I'm glad you asked..." Klim Musalimov, Unsplash

We noted last year how Judge Noreika has sometimes denied § 101 motions to dismiss that challenge large numbers of claims, holding that it is more efficient to deal with such motions at the SJ stage (where, presumably, the case would be narrowed).

This week, the Court addressed a § 101 motion in Global Tel*Link Corporation v. JACS Solutions, Inc., C.A. No. 23-500-MN (D. Del.). The motion seeks a § 101 ineligibility finding for 5 claims across 5 asserted patents—i.e., one claim per patent. That's all the plaintiff asserted in the complaint. Id., D.I. 20.

In response, the plaintiff (wisely) argued …

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How Little Is Too Little? Court Dismisses Patent Complaint for Lack of Detail, Threatens Sanctions

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 20, 2023
MTD FRCP 12(b)(6)

Little
Paul Kramer, Unsplash

One of the early questions in many cases (particularly NPE cases) is whether the defendant can move to dismiss the complaint under 12(b)(6) for lacking sufficient detail under Twombly/Iqbal.

The answer is yes: You can, as long as there is insufficient detail. But what is the cutoff? How bad does it have to be?

We got an example of that on Monday, when Chief Judge Connolly dismissed a complaint for lacking detail. According to the Court, all the plaintiff did was say that the defendant's product infringes the claim:

"[A] plaintiff cannot assert a plausible claim for infringement under the Iqbal/Twombly standard by reciting the claim elements and merely concluding that the accused …
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Competitor Cannot Escape DJ Action, Even Absent Specific Allegation of Infringement

Andrew E. Russell, Sept. 4, 2023
MTD Motion to Dismiss

It's clear who was the faster draw.
It's clear who was the faster draw. AI-Generated

In Candid Care Co., v. SmileDirectClub, LLC, C.A. No. 21-1180-CFC (D. Del.), SmileDirectClub sued Candid Care—its competitor—for patent infringement of a single patent. Chief Judge Connolly dismissed the case, holding that the patent was patent ineligible under § 101.

The next day, SmileDirectClub sued Candid Care on a second patent in the same family, this time in the Western District of Texas.

But the Western District of Texas transferred the case back to Delaware—and, because it is related to the previous case, it was assigned to Chief Judge Connolly again. Shortly thereafter (perhaps to avoid its second patent suffering a similar fate under § 101), SmileDirectClub granted …

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