Augme Technologies, Inc. v. Yahoo! Inc. , 755 F.3d 1326 ( 2014 )


Menu:
  •   United States Court of Appeals
    for the Federal Circuit
    ______________________
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.,
    Plaintiff/Counterclaim Defendant-Appellant,
    AND
    WORLD TALK RADIO, LLC,
    Counterclaim Defendant-Appellant,
    v.
    YAHOO! INC.,
    Defendant/Counterclaimant-Appellee.
    ______________________
    2013-1121, -1195
    ______________________
    Appeals from the United States District Court for the
    Northern District of California in No. 09-CV-5386, Magis-
    trate Judge Joseph C. Spero.
    ______________________
    Decided: June 20, 2014
    ______________________
    JENNIFER A. ALBERT, Goodwin Procter LLP, of Wash-
    ington, DC, argued for all appellants. With her on the
    brief were, THOMAS J. SCOTT, JR., DAVID M. YOUNG, and
    ELEANOR M. YOST. Of counsel on the brief was GREGORY
    S. BISHOP, of Menlo Park, California.
    2                  AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    DEANNE E. MAYNARD, Morrison & Foerster LLP, of
    Washington, DC, argued for defendant/counterclaimant-
    appellee. With her on the brief were DANIEL P. MUINO,
    and MARC A. HEARRON; and RACHEL KREVANS and
    RICHARD S.J. HUNG, of San Francisco, California.
    ______________________
    Before MOORE, SCHALL, and REYNA, Circuit Judges.
    MOORE, Circuit Judge.
    Augme Technologies, Inc. (Augme) sued Yahoo! Inc.
    (Yahoo!) alleging infringement of certain claims of U.S.
    Patent Nos. 6,594,691 and 7,269,636 (collectively, the
    Augme patents), and Yahoo! counterclaimed that Augme
    and World Talk Radio, LLC (collectively, Appellants)
    infringed certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 7,640,320.
    After claim construction, the court granted Yahoo! sum-
    mary judgment of noninfringement. The district court
    also entered judgment that certain means-plus-function
    terms in claims 19 and 20 of Augme’s ’691 patent were
    indefinite. Finally, Appellants stipulated to infringement
    of the asserted claims of Yahoo!’s ’320 patent based on the
    court’s claim construction. This appeal followed. We have
    jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).
    On appeal, Augme challenges the district court’s de-
    termination that Yahoo!’s accused systems do not infringe
    the Augme patents either literally or under the doctrine of
    equivalents and that claims 19 and 20 of the ’691 patent
    are indefinite. We affirm the grant of summary judgment
    of no literal infringement and of no infringement under
    the doctrine of equivalents based on the “embedded”
    limitation. We also affirm the grant of summary judg-
    ment that claims 19 and 20 are indefinite.
    Appellants appeal from the judgment that they in-
    fringe the ’320 patent and challenge the district court’s
    construction of the claim term “server hostname.” Appel-
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.    v. YAHOO! INC.                   3
    lants also appeal from the district court’s judgment that
    claim 7 of the ’320 patent is not indefinite. We affirm the
    district court in all respects with regard to the ’320 pa-
    tent.
    I. Summary Judgment of Yahoo!’s Non-Infringement of
    the Augme Patents
    We review summary judgment decisions under re-
    gional circuit law. Lexion Med., LLC v. Northgate Techs.,
    Inc., 
    641 F.3d 1352
    , 1358 (Fed. Cir. 2011). The Ninth
    Circuit reviews the grant of summary judgment de novo.
    Greater Yellowstone Coal. v. Lewis, 
    628 F.3d 1143
    , 1148
    (9th Cir. 2010). Summary judgment is appropriate if “the
    movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any
    material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a
    matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). At the summary
    judgment stage, we credit all of the nonmovant’s evidence
    and draw all justifiable inferences in its favor. Anderson
    v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 
    477 U.S. 242
    , 255 (1986).
    A. Background
    The Augme patents share a common specification that
    discloses adding functionality, such as media or adver-
    tisements, to a web page. ’691 patent col. 1 ll. 41–51, col.
    14 ll. 18–22. The disclosed embodiments include two code
    modules. A first code module is embedded in a web page
    downloaded by a web browser. 
    Id. col. 6
    ll. 9–18. The
    embedded first code module issues a command to retrieve
    a second code module from a server. 
    Id. The second
    code
    module contains the code for the added functionality and
    a “service response.” 
    Id. col. 12
    ll. 38–55, col. 17 ll. 22–23.
    The patents explain that the service response may indi-
    cate either a customized or predetermined service and
    include media that was requested. 
    Id. col. 8
    l. 22 – col. 9 l.
    28, col. 12 l. 56 – col. 13 l. 3. However, if the web page
    content is objectionable or “unacceptable to be displayed
    with” the requested media, then the patents disclose
    4                  AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    returning a service response that indicates a denial of
    service. 
    Id. col. 7
    ll. 36–56. The service response may
    indicate a denial of service by displaying a “media appli-
    ance metaphor” with a slash through it, or by not display-
    ing any media appliance metaphor at all. 
    Id. col. 7
    ll. 59–
    63.
    Each asserted claim recites: (1) a “service response”
    contained in the second code module; and (2) an “embed-
    ded” first code module that “retrieves” or “initiates re-
    trieval” 1 of the second code module. ’691 patent claims
    19–21, 25; ’636 patent claims 1–3, 9, 14, 20, 25. Claim 1
    of the ’636 patent is representative (emphases added):
    A method of operating a computer network to add
    function to a Web page comprising:
    downloading said Web page at a processor plat-
    form, said downloading step being performed by a
    Web browser;
    when said Web page is downloaded, automatically
    executing a first code module embedded in said
    Web page;
    said first code module issuing a first command to
    retrieve a second code module;
    assembling, in response to said issuing operation,
    said second code module having a service response;
    said first code module issuing a second command
    to initiate execution of said second code module;
    and
    1   Claim 19 of the ’691 patent recites that the first
    code module “initiate[s] a download” of the second code
    module, but the parties do not distinguish between initi-
    ating “retrieval” and initiating “a download.”
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.               5
    initiating execution of said second code module at
    said processor platform in response to said second
    command.
    The accused Yahoo! systems distribute advertise-
    ments for display in web pages. 2 For example, a web page
    publisher that wants to add advertisements to its web
    page may contract with Yahoo! to obtain “smart tags,”
    which allow Yahoo!-distributed advertisements to be
    displayed in the web page. The smart tag (the alleged
    embedded first code module) is embedded into the devel-
    oper’s web page. Once the web page is downloaded, the
    browser executes the smart tag to download an interme-
    diary piece of code called “smart code” from the Yahoo!
    server. The browser executes the smart code to send
    various parameters to the Yahoo! server and to request an
    “imp code” (the alleged second code module). The imp
    code returned to the browser includes an “ad code” (the
    alleged service response) that either includes an adver-
    tisement for display or is blank. For example, if the
    Yahoo! systems are able to locate a suitable advertise-
    ment for display based on parameters sent by the smart
    code, then an advertisement is included in the ad code.
    On the other hand, if the Yahoo! systems are unable to
    locate a suitable advertisement, a blank ad code is re-
    turned.
    The district court granted summary judgment of non-
    infringement to Yahoo!. It held that the accused Yahoo!
    systems do not meet the (1) “service response” or (2)
    “embedded first code module” limitations. We discuss
    each limitation in turn.
    2    The accused Yahoo! systems, RMX and APT, func-
    tion similarly for the infringement purposes at issue on
    appeal but use different terminology. For simplicity, we
    use the terminology which describes the RMX system.
    6                  AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    B. “service response”
    The district court construed “service response” to be “a
    response that indicates whether the downloaded web page
    is permitted to have access to a requested function . . . .”
    Augme Techs., Inc. v. Yahoo!, Inc., C.A. No. 09-05386-JCS,
    slip op. at 15–18 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 27, 2011), ECF No. 192
    (Claim Construction Order). It then granted summary
    judgment of noninfringement to Yahoo! because it deter-
    mined, as a matter of law, that Yahoo!’s ad codes were not
    service responses. Augme Techs., Inc. v. Yahoo!, Inc., C.A.
    No. 09-05386-JCS, 
    2012 WL 3627408
    , at *7–9 (N.D. Cal.
    Aug. 21, 2012) (Summary Judgment Order). In particu-
    lar, the district court determined that returning a blank
    or advertisement-containing ad code does not indicate
    “whether permission is granted or denied.” 
    Id. at *9.
        On appeal, the parties do not challenge, and therefore
    we do not address, the district court’s construction of
    service response as requiring an indication of permission.
    There is no real dispute regarding how the Yahoo! sys-
    tems function, but only over whether a reasonable jury
    could conclude that the Yahoo! functionality includes an
    indication about web page permission. Augme’s expert
    testified that the accused Yahoo! systems process infor-
    mation related to ad requests, such as processor platform
    and web browser information, to find an ad that is the
    “best match” for each ad request. J.A. 7058–60 ¶¶ 7, 12,
    13. He explained that if the Yahoo! system “locates a
    suitable ad” based on this information, it includes the
    advertisement in the ad code, and if it “cannot satisfy the
    ad request,” it returns a blank or default ad code. 
    Id. Augme’s expert
    equated this advertisement suitability
    determination with permission. 
    Id. Yahoo!’s 30(b)(6)
    witness similarly testified that the accused Yahoo! sys-
    tems return a blank or advertisement-containing ad code
    based on this suitability requirement, i.e., whether the
    system is “able to fill an ad.” J.A. 6746. Yahoo!, however,
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.                7
    argues that advertisement suitability is different than
    permission and thus returning an advertisement-
    containing or blank code based on a suitability determina-
    tion does not indicate anything about permission.
    We hold that there is a question of material fact as to
    whether a blank or advertisement-containing ad code is
    an indication of “permission” in light of both the district
    court’s construction and the Augme patents. The district
    court rejected Augme’s proposed construction of “service
    response,” which would have required that it indicate a
    denial of, customized, or default service to be rendered on
    a web page. Claim Construction Order at 15. It noted
    that this proposed construction was a limitation in a
    dependent claim, and thus “service response” was pre-
    sumed to be broader by virtue of claim differentiation. 
    Id. at 17.
    It thus concluded that service response should be
    construed as “a response that indicates whether the
    downloaded web page is permitted to have access to a
    requested function.” 
    Id. at 18.
    Thus, according to the
    district court’s construction, an indication of permission
    included, but was necessarily broader than, a response
    indicating a denial of, customized, or default service.
    The Augme patents tie together the notions of permis-
    sion and suitability when they disclose sending a service
    response including an indication of permission (e.g., via
    one of a denial of, customized, or default service) in re-
    sponse to a suitability determination about the requested
    media. On the one hand, the patents disclose that if the
    web page content is objectionable or “unacceptable to be
    displayed with” the requested media, then the patented
    system forms a service response indicating a denial of
    service. ’691 patent col. 7 ll. 36–56. The service response
    may indicate a denial of service by displaying a “media
    appliance metaphor” with a slash through it, or by not
    displaying any media appliance metaphor at all—i.e., a
    blank service response. 
    Id. col. 7
    ll. 59–63. On the other
    8                   AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.    v. YAHOO! INC.
    hand, if the web page content is not objectionable or
    unacceptable, then a service response is displayed that
    indicates either a customized or predetermined service
    and includes the requested media. 
    Id. col. 8
    l. 22 – col. 9 l.
    28, col. 12 l. 56 – col. 13 l. 3.
    We reject the district court’s conclusion that returning
    a blank ad code cannot meet the service response limita-
    tion. The embodiments disclosed in the Augme patents
    expressly do just that—they indicate a denial of service
    with a service response that omits the media appliance
    metaphor altogether, i.e., a blank service response. 
    Id. col. 7
    ll. 59–63, col. 12 ll. 51–55. We also reject Yahoo!’s
    argument that a blank ad code cannot be a service re-
    sponse because the Yahoo! systems do not “check whether
    the requesting web page has permission to access an
    advertisement.” Appellee’s Br. 26. This argument is
    based on elements not present in the claim or the con-
    struction of service response. The asserted claims do not
    require an independent permission-checking step—only
    an indication of whether the web page has permission.
    The Yahoo! systems return either an advertisement or
    blank code based on the suitability of a particular adver-
    tisement. The evidence of record demonstrates that there
    is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether these
    advertisements or blank codes provide an indication of
    web page permission in the context of the Augme patents
    and the district court’s construction. Thus, the “service
    response” limitation is not a basis upon which we can
    affirm summary judgment of noninfringement.
    C. “embedded first code module”
    The district court construed “embedded” to mean
    “written into the HTML code of the web page,” and ex-
    plained that this construction was consistent with the
    term’s plain meaning. Claim Construction Order at 12–
    14. The district court explained that this construction
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.                 9
    expressly excluded “a code module that is retrieved via
    external linking,” i.e., code not actually in the web page
    HTML, but separately retrieved after the web page down-
    load. 
    Id. The court
    then concluded that Yahoo!’s accused
    systems do not include an “embedded” first code module
    that “initiates retrieval” of a second code module either
    literally or under the doctrine of equivalents. Summary
    Judgment Order at *9–12. On appeal, Augme challenges
    the court’s construction that embedded code excludes
    linked code and its grant of summary judgment of literal
    infringement and infringement under the doctrine of
    equivalents.
    1. Construction of “embedded”
    Augme argues on appeal that the district court’s con-
    struction is erroneous because embedded code can include
    linked code, i.e., code not actually in the web page HTML,
    but separately retrieved after the web page download.
    We agree with the district court’s construction.
    The asserted claims support the distinction between
    embedded code and linked code. Each asserted claim
    recites that the first code module is “embedded” or “con-
    figured to be embedded” and that the second code module
    is “retrieve[d]” or “download[ed].” ’691 patent claims 19–
    21, 25; ’636 patent claims 1–3, 9, 14, 20, 25. This distinc-
    tion creates a presumption that “embedded” means some-
    thing different than “retrieved” or “downloaded.”
    Helmsderfer v. Bobrick Washroom Equip., Inc., 
    527 F.3d 1379
    , 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (“[D]ifferent claim terms are
    presumed to have different meanings.”); Applied Med.
    Res. Corp. v. U.S. Surgical Corp., 
    448 F.3d 1324
    , 1333 n.3
    (Fed. Cir. 2006). Augme admits that its proposed con-
    struction—that embedded code includes code that is
    linked—would mean that the second code module is also
    “embedded.” The second code module is not written into
    the web page, but rather retrieved, downloaded, and
    10                 AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    incorporated into the web page. If embedded were con-
    strued as including code that is not itself written into the
    webpage, but is rather linked—retrieved and download-
    ed—then both the first and second code modules would be
    embedded according to this definition. This would render
    meaningless the distinction between the embedded first
    code module and the downloaded or retrieved second code
    module.
    Augme asserts that there is no lexicography or disa-
    vowal in the specification that requires embedded code to
    exclude linked code. Appellants’ Br. 26–28. Augme’s
    argument is inapposite. It is well established that a
    patentee may deviate from the plain and ordinary mean-
    ing of a claim term by disavowing claim scope or acting as
    his own lexicographer. Thorner v. Sony Computer Entm’t
    Am. LLC, 
    669 F.3d 1362
    , 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2012). But that
    principle does not apply here because the patentee is not
    deviating from the plain and ordinary meaning of “em-
    bedded.” Linked code is not “written into the HTML code
    of the web page.” It is, instead, separately retrieved by
    other embedded code that references or points to the
    linked code. Code that is merely referenced for future
    insertion into a web page is not written into the HTML
    code in that web page. For example, an HTML link can
    itself be embedded in the web page, but the code that is
    retrieved when the link is executed is located elsewhere.
    The plain and ordinary meaning of embedded code is code
    written into the HTML code of the web page. 3 Code
    3  Augme argues that its expert testified that the
    plain meaning of “embedded” code includes externally
    linked code. Augme’s expert declared that “[o]ne method
    for embedding code into a code module is to provide some
    of the code in one file with a reference to other code in
    another file.” J.A. 1191 ¶ 8. Augme’s expert’s admitted,
    however, that in that case the web page only
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.    v. YAHOO! INC.                   11
    which is incorporated into the web page from another
    location is not embedded, it is linked.
    Rather than disavow the plain meaning, the specifica-
    tion reinforces the plain-meaning construction that ex-
    cludes linked code. It explains that “the present invention
    teaches of a method and system for adding function . . . to
    a Web page, through the implementation of a simple code
    module embedded in the HTML of the Web page.” ’691
    patent col. 14 ll. 18–22 (emphasis added); see also 
    id. col. 2
    ll. 36–41, col. 4 ll. 63–65. It continues, “the code module
    is . . . readily copied and pasted into a Web page during
    Web page development activities.” 
    Id. col. 14
    ll. 26–28.
    Linked code is, by definition, not copied and pasted into a
    web page during development. The Augme patents
    distinguish code embedded in the web page from retrieved
    code that is obtained via a network connection and sepa-
    rately downloaded. See, e.g., 
    id. col. 2
    ll. 36–58, col. 4 l. 63
    – col. 5 l. 17, col. 6 ll. 3–19, col. 7 ll. 19–32. 4 The link to
    the second code module is embedded in the web page, but
    “[c]onceptually” includes the linked code. 
    Id. ¶ 10.
    Ya-
    hoo!’s expert, consistent with the specification, testified
    that one of skill in the art would not have considered a
    linked code module to be embedded. J.A. 1622 ¶ 3.
    4  To the extent that Augme argues that the pre-
    ferred embodiment includes an “embedded” first code
    module which includes an externally linked “CGI pro-
    gram” file, we do not agree. See ’691 patent col. 5 ll. 2–19,
    Fig. 2. That embodiment does not describe the CGI
    program as a part of the first code module. Indeed, Fig-
    ure 1, which depicts a block diagram of the preferred
    embodiment, shows CGI program 84 as a separate com-
    ponent from first code module 36. 
    Id. Fig. 1.
    Thus, the
    patents do not define embedded code, contrary to its plain
    meaning, to include linked code.
    12                 AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    the linked code (the second code module itself) is not
    embedded. 
    Id. We conclude
    that the district court’s
    construction of “embedded” is correct; embedded code
    would not be understood by one of skill in the art to be
    code that is linked.
    2. Literal Infringement
    The district court granted Yahoo! summary judgment
    that its accused systems do not literally infringe the
    asserted claims because it determined that Yahoo!’s
    embedded smart tag could not be the first code module
    under its construction. Summary Judgment Order at *9–
    11. In particular, the district court determined that the
    smart tag does not “retrieve” or “initiate retrieval of” the
    imp code (the alleged second code module)—it downloads
    the intermediary smart code, and it is that downloaded
    smart code which retrieves the imp code. 
    Id. at *17–18.
         Augme contends that there is a factual dispute as to
    whether the smart tag’s retrieval of the smart code “initi-
    ates retrieval of” a second code module. In essence,
    Augme argues that because the embedded smart tag
    begins a process which ultimately results in retrieval of
    the imp code, a jury could conclude that this smart tag
    initiates the retrieval process.
    We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judg-
    ment of no literal infringement based on the “embedded
    first code module” limitation. Yahoo!’s embedded smart
    tags do not initiate retrieval of the imp code (the alleged
    second code module); the non-embedded smart code does.
    In the accused Yahoo! systems, the embedded smart tag
    retrieves an intermediary smart code. This smart code is
    not embedded under the district court’s construction; it is
    separately downloaded. After it is retrieved, the smart
    code, in turn, retrieves the imp code (the alleged second
    code module). Thus, the Yahoo! systems cannot literally
    infringe because they contain two sets of code: one that is
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.               13
    embedded but does not retrieve the alleged second code
    module and another that retrieves the alleged second code
    module but is not embedded. As the district court correct-
    ly concluded, the embedded smart tags do not “initiate
    retrieval of the second code module as required by the
    claims; rather [they issue] a command to download other
    code.” Summary Judgment Order at *10. Because Ya-
    hoo!’s non-embedded smart code initiates retrieval of the
    alleged second code module, there can be no literal in-
    fringement.
    3. Doctrine of Equivalents
    The district court also granted summary judgment
    that the Yahoo! systems do not include an “embedded first
    code module” under the doctrine of equivalents. Sum-
    mary Judgment Order at *11–12. Augme asserts that
    summary judgment is improper because there is a genu-
    ine issue of material fact as to whether the combination of
    the embedded smart tag and the separately retrieved,
    non-embedded, smart code (a combination that Yahoo!
    refers to as the “Combined RMX Module”) 5 is equivalent
    to the recited first code module. Augme asserts that the
    Combined RMX Modules are “partially embedded,” which
    can be equivalent to “embedded.” Augme argues it pre-
    sented evidence such that a reasonable jury could find
    that the Combined RMX Module is only insubstantially
    different from the embedded first code module. It also
    contends that both its and Yahoo!’s experts presented
    evidence that the Combined RMX Module satisfies the
    function-way-result test. Augme asserts that the district
    5   The APT equivalent is referred to as the “com-
    bined APT module.” We continue to use the RMX termi-
    nology even though the analysis is equally applicable to
    the APT system.
    14                 AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.
    court failed to address its function-way-result test argu-
    ments below.
    We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judg-
    ment. As construed, embedded code does not include
    externally linked code. Augme’s arguments that the
    Combined RMX Module is equivalent to the embedded
    first code module are essentially identical to its claim
    construction arguments: namely that linked code can fall
    within the definition of embedded code. No reasonable
    jury could find equivalence here because doing so would
    require a determination that embedded code is substan-
    tially the same as linked code—the very thing that the
    construction of “embedded” excludes. “[T]he concept of
    equivalency cannot embrace a structure that is specifical-
    ly excluded from the scope of the claims.” Dolly, Inc. v.
    Spalding & Evenflo Cos., 
    16 F.3d 394
    , 400 (Fed. Cir.
    1994). While we have recognized that literal failure to
    meet a claim limitation does not necessarily constitute a
    “specific exclusion,” see Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. v. U.S.
    Surgical Corp., 
    149 F.3d 1309
    , 1317 (Fed. Cir. 1998), we
    have found “specific exclusion” where the patentee seeks
    to encompass a structural feature that is the opposite of,
    or inconsistent with, the recited limitation. See, e.g.,
    SciMed Life Sys., Inc. v. Advanced Cardiovascular Sys.,
    Inc., 
    242 F.3d 1337
    , 1346–47 (Fed. Cir. 2001). Because
    the Augme patents make clear that embedded and linked
    code are opposites, we agree with the district court that
    they “cannot possess only insubstantial differences.”
    Summary Judgment Order at *12.
    Further, the record evidence does not create a genuine
    issue of fact regarding whether embedded code is insub-
    stantially different from linked code or whether the
    function-way-result test is met. Augme’s expert declara-
    tion fails to create a genuine issue of material fact. The
    relevant testimony reads:
    AUGME TECHNOLOGIES, INC.   v. YAHOO! INC.                  15
    18. Notably, the World Wide Web Consortium
    (“W3C”) makes no distinction in behavior or exe-
    cution between JavaScript code written inline be-
    tween the HTML