NetSoc, LLC v. LinkedIn Corporation

Filing 91

ORDER granting 19 MOTION to Dismiss. Signed by Judge Vince Chhabria on 6/26/2020. (vclc1S, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 6/26/2020)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

NETSOC, LLC,

Case No. 20-cv-00483-VC

Plaintiff,
ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO
DISMISS

v.
LINKEDIN CORPORATION,

Re: Dkt. No. 19

Defendant.

LinkedIn’s motion to dismiss is granted. NetSoc has alleged that LinkedIn infringed two
patents; both are related to a patent the Court has held to be invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101. See
NetSoc, LLC v. Quora, Inc., No. 19-CV-06518-VC, 2020 WL 415919 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 27, 2020)
(invalidating Patent No. 9,218,591, “Method and System for Establishing and Using a Social
Network to Facilitate People in Life Issues,” because it claimed an abstract idea). The patents in
this case share the same title and specification as the invalidated patent, and their claims are
largely similar. Like the ’591 patent and for the same reasons, the ’107 and ’344 patents are
directed to the abstract idea of a social network and lack an inventive concept that transforms the
idea into a patent-eligible application. See id.; see also Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International,
134 S. Ct. 2347, 2355–57. They are thus invalid under section 101.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: June 26, 2020
______________________________________
VINCE CHHABRIA
United States District Judge