Streetspace, Inc v. Google, Inc. et al

Filing 49

MOTION to Dismiss by Admob, Inc, Apple, Inc., Google, Inc., Jumptap, Inc, Millennial Media, Inc, Navteq Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Nokia Inc, Quattro Wireless, Inc. (Attachments: # 1 Memo of Points and Authorities)(Rousseau, Timothy) (lmt).

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kurt M. Kjelland (CSB 172076) kkjelland@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP 4365 Executive Drive Third Floor San Diego, CA 92121 Tel: (858) 202-2728 Fax: (858) 457-1255 Douglas J. Kline dkline@goodwinprocter.com William A. Meunier wmeunier@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP Exchange Place 53 State Street Boston, MA 02109 Tel: (617) 570-1000 Fax: (617) 523-1231 12 13 14 15 16 Timothy J. Rousseau trousseau@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP The New York Times Building 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 (212) 813-8800 Fax: (212) 355-3333 17 18 19 Attorneys for Defendant JUMPTAP, INC. Additional parties and counsel listed in the signature block 20 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 21 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 22 23 STREETSPACE, INC., Plaintiff, 24 25 26 27 v. GOOGLE INC., et al. Defendants. Case No: 3:10-cv-01757-LAB-MDD MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS Date: May 9, 2011 Time: 11:15 a.m. Judge: Hon. Larry Alan Burns 28 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 3 I. SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT .......................................................................................... 1 4 II. BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 2 5 III. 6 STREETSPACE’S CLAIMS FOR INDIRECT INFRINGEMENT AGAINST ALL DEFENDANTS, AND ALL CLAIMS AGAINST JUMPTAP AND MILLENNIAL, SHOULD BE DISMISSED UNDER RULE 12(b)(6)........................................................ 4 7 A. Legal Standards....................................................................................................... 4 8 B. Streetspace’s Allegations of Direct Infringement Against Millennial Media and Jumptap Should Be Dismissed Because They Do Not Identify Any Allegedly Infringing Products or Services .............................................................................. 5 C. Streetspace’s Indirect Infringement Allegations Are Insufficiently Stated and Fail to Meet the Pleading Requirements of Twombly and Iqbal.................................... 7 9 10 11 IV. CONCLUSION................................................................................................................... 9 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 i MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) 2 CASES 3 4 5 6 7 Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937 (2009)..................................................................................................... passim Associated Gen. Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519 (1983)...................................................................................................................6 Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007)......................................................................................................... passim 8 9 10 11 12 Bender v. LG Elecs. U.S.A., Inc., No. C-09-02114-JF, 2010 WL 889541 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2010) .......................................1, 5 Christopher v. Harbury, 536 U.S. 403 (2002)...................................................................................................................4 Franks Casing Crew & Rental Tools, Inc. v. Weatherford Int’l, Inc., 389 F.3d 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2004)..................................................................................................6 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Gen-Probe, Inc. v. Amoco Corp., 926 F. Supp. 948 (S.D. Cal. 1996).........................................................................................5, 6 Hackford v. Babbitt, 14 F.3d 1457 (10th Cir. 1994) ...................................................................................................8 Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Intergraph Corp., No. C 03-2517 MJJ, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26092 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 6, 2003).....................5, 6 Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc., No. C10-1385, 2010 WL 5058620 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 10, 2010)..............................................1 Realtime Data, LLC v. Morgan Stanley, No. 6:09CV326, 2010 WL 2403779 (E.D. Tex. June 10, 2010) ...........................................5, 6 Ricoh Co., Ltd. v. ASUSTeK Computer, Inc., 481 F. Supp. 2d 954 (W.D. Wis. 2007) .....................................................................................1 Vita-Mix Corp. v. Basic Holding, Inc., 581 F.3d 1317 (Fed. Cir. 2009)..................................................................................................8 Xpoint Techs. Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 09-628, 2010 WL 3187025 (D. Del. Aug. 12, 2010)......................................................4, 8 STATUTES 35 U.S.C. § 271................................................................................................................................7 ii MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 OTHER AUTHORITIES 2 Fed. R. Civ. P. 8.......................................................................................................................1, 4, 9 3 Fed. R. Civ. P. 12................................................................................................................... passim 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 iii MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 Defendants Google Inc. (“Google”); AdMob, Inc. (“AdMob”); Apple Inc. and Quattro 2 Wireless, Inc. (collectively “Apple” ); Nokia Corporation, Nokia Inc. and Navteq Corporation 3 (collectively the “Nokia Defendants”); Millennial Media, Inc. (“Millennial Media”); and 4 JumpTap, Inc. (“Jumptap”) (collectively “Defendants”) move pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil 5 Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss Plaintiff Streetspace, Inc.’s (“Streetspace”) First Amended 6 Complaint for Patent Infringement (“First Amended Complaint”; Dkt. No. 30) for alleged 7 infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,847,969 (“the ’969 Patent”) for failure to state a claim upon 8 which relief can be granted. The First Amended Complaint includes many of the same defects as 9 Streetspace’s original Complaint (“Complaint”; Dkt. No. 1) and should be dismissed with 10 prejudice without leave to amend. 11 I. 12 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT Streetspace’s First Amended Complaint fails to satisfy the pleading standards under 13 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a), as articulated in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 14 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 1937 (2009). Under Rule 8(a), the complaint must 15 include “a ‘showing,’ rather than a blanket assertion, of entitlement to relief.” Twombly, 550 16 U.S. at 555 n.3. This “demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me 17 accusation.” Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). This standard applies 18 equally to complaints alleging patent infringement. See, e.g., Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, 19 Inc., No. C10-1385, 2010 WL 5058620 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 10, 2010) (“The Court disagrees with 20 Plaintiff’s argument that Twombly and Iqbal do not apply to patent suits.”); Bender v. LG Elecs. 21 U.S.A., Inc., No. C-09-02114-JF, 2010 WL 889541, at *5 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 11, 2010); Ricoh Co., 22 Ltd. v. ASUSTeK Computer, Inc., 481 F. Supp. 2d 954, 959 (W.D. Wis. 2007). 23 The pleading standard for direct patent infringement under the Supreme Court’s Twombly 24 and Iqbal decisions requires, at a minimum, the specific identification of the allegedly infringing 25 products or services. Like Streetspace’s original Complaint, its First Amended Complaint fails 26 to state a claim for direct infringement against Millennial Media and Jumptap because 27 Streetspace again fails to identify a single Millennial Media or Jumptap product or service that 28 allegedly infringes the ’969 Patent. Streetspace’s repeated failure to state a claim for direct 1 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 infringement is no mere oversight—Streetspace cannot specify any Millennial Media or Jumptap 2 service that directly infringes the ’969 Patent because each ’969 Patent claim requires a 3 “terminal,” and neither Millennial Media nor Jumptap sells or otherwise provides a “terminal” 4 with any of their services. As a result, Streetspace has now twice failed to state a claim for direct 5 infringement against Millennial Media and Jumptap, and those claims should be dismissed with 6 prejudice. 7 Streetspace’s allegations of indirect infringement in the First Amended Complaint against 8 all of the Defendants are also inadequate. Despite having a second bite at the apple, and limiting 9 its allegations of indirect infringement to only the active inducement type (dropping its claims 10 for the contributory infringement type of indirect infringement asserted in the original 11 Complaint), Streetspace has still not adequately plead indirect infringement. In the First 12 Amended Complaint, Streetspace includes many additional facts, some of which are possibly 13 relevant, many of which are completely irrelevant and apparently intended only to cast the 14 Defendants in a negative light. Importantly, Streetspace failed to include in the First Amended 15 Complaint allegations of fact sufficient to allow the Court to draw a reasonable inference that 16 any of the Defendants are liable for indirect infringement. Specifically, Streetspace has failed to 17 plead any facts sufficient to allow the Court to draw a reasonable inference that any of the 18 Defendants actually knew of the ’969 Patent prior to the filing of the suit. 19 In light of such facially inadequate assertions of infringement, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6), 20 Defendants respectfully request that this Court dismiss (i) Streetspace’s direct infringement 21 claims against Millennial Media and Jumptap, and (ii) Streetspace’s indirect infringement claims 22 as to all of the Defendants. 23 II. 24 BACKGROUND On August 23, 2010, Streetspace filed its original Complaint against Defendants for 25 alleged infringement of the ’969 Patent. On January 18, 2011, Defendants timely filed a joint 26 motion pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) to dismiss Streetspace’s Complaint 27 for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, or in the alternative, for a more 28 definite statement pursuant to Rule 12(e). (Dkt. No. 21). In response, Streetspace improperly 2 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 filed its First Amended Complaint on February 25, 2011, and its opposition to Defendants’ 2 motion on February 28, 2011 (Dkt. No. 32). 3 On March 3, 2011, the Court entered an Order to Show Cause, ordering Streetspace to 4 show “why its amended complaint should not be stricken from the docket, and why the pending 5 motions to dismiss and transfer venue should not remain on the Court’s calendar for a March 14, 6 2011 hearing.” (Dkt. No. 35 at 2.) On March 4, 2011, Streetspace filed its response to the Order 7 to Show Cause, asserting that “[t]he proposed First Amended Complaint was inadvertently filed 8 without leave”, and requested leave to file it. (Dkt. No. 39 at 2.) Defendants filed their reply in 9 support of their motion on March 7, 2011 (Dkt. No. 42). On March 8, 2011, the Court granted 10 Streetspace leave to file the First Amended Complaint, and denied Defendants’ motion to 11 dismiss as moot. (Dkt. No. 43.) 12 Streetspace alleges in its First Amended Complaint that it owns and has standing to sue 13 for infringement of the ’969 Patent. First Amended Compl. ¶ 51. A review of the ’969 Patent 14 shows that, among other limitations, each independent claim recites a “terminal . . . [having] an 15 identification code,” a “database,” and “a program for displaying personalized information” or 16 otherwise “providing selected advertisement and online services to said consumer.” ’969 Patent 17 claims 1, 12, and 19 (emphasis added). 18 As to Millennial Media and Jumptap, Streetspace does not name or otherwise specify a 19 single product or service that purportedly infringes its patent. Instead, just as in the original 20 Complaint, Streetspace makes a vague assertion of direct infringement against “a method and/or 21 system for providing personalized information and/or targeted online advertising services based 22 on location, consumers’ profiles and/or usage history.” Id. ¶¶ 175-179, 189-194. This 23 boilerplate recitation of certain limited aspects of the ’969 Patent leaves Millennial Media and 24 Jumptap to speculate as to what product or service is actually at issue in the suit. 25 As for its deficient indirect infringement allegations, Streetspace alleges with respect to 26 Google, for example, that “Google has had actual knowledge of the ’969 patent since at least 27 August 23, 2010”, i.e., the filing date of the original Complaint. First Amended Compl. ¶ 72. 28 Similar allegations of indirect infringement are made against the other Defendants. Id. ¶¶ 90, 91, 3 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 109, 110, 123, 124, 138, 139, 152, 153, 167, 168, 181, 182, 196, and 197. But knowledge of the 2 patent after the filing of a complaint is not sufficient for pleading the requisite knowledge for 3 indirect infringement. See Xpoint Techs. Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., No. 09-628, 2010 WL 4 3187025, *6 (D. Del. Aug. 12, 2010). 5 III. 6 STREETSPACE’S CLAIMS FOR INDIRECT INFRINGEMENT AGAINST ALL DEFENDANTS, AND ALL CLAIMS AGAINST JUMPTAP AND MILLENNIAL, SHOULD BE DISMISSED UNDER RULE 12(b)(6) 7 A. 8 A complaint must contain “a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the 9 pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2). However, Rule 8 “does not unlock the Legal Standards 10 doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.” Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. 11 at 1950. “A pleading that offers ‘labels and conclusions’ or ‘a formulaic recitation of the 12 elements of a cause of action will not do.’” Id. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555). 13 Unless the plaintiff has pleaded “enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its 14 face,” and thereby “nudged [his] claims . . . across the line from conceivable to plausible,” the 15 complaint “must be dismissed.” Twombly, 550 U.S. at 570 (dismissing complaint pursuant to 16 Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6)). 17 In considering a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a court must assume all factual 18 allegations in a complaint as true and view them in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. 19 Christopher v. Harbury, 536 U.S. 403, 406 (2002). However, pleadings containing “no more 20 than conclusions[] are not entitled to the assumption of truth.” Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1950. Only 21 when there are “well-pleaded factual allegations” may a court “assume their veracity and then 22 determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief.” Id. A claim has facial 23 plausibility “when the plaintiff pleads factual content that allows the court to draw the reasonable 24 inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id. at 1949 (citing Twombly, 25 550 U.S. at 556). The “sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully” is insufficient. 26 Id. Such a complaint “has alleged—but has not ‘show[n]’—‘that the pleader is entitled to 27 relief.’” Id. at 1950 (quoting Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a)(2)). 28 4 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 B. 2 Streetspace’s Allegations of Direct Infringement Against Millennial Media and Jumptap Should Be Dismissed Because They Do Not Identify Any Allegedly Infringing Products or Services 3 Following Iqbal, a complaint must “at a minimum, [include] a brief description of what 4 the patent at issue does, and an allegation that certain named and specifically identified products 5 or product components also do what the patent does, thereby raising a plausible claim that the 6 named products are infringing.” LG Elecs., 2010 WL 889541, at *6. Applying Twombly and 7 Iqbal, the court in LG Electronics reasoned that only with a brief description of the patent and an 8 allegation of specifically identified products that fits the description of what the patent does, 9 would the pleading “provide enough specificity for the defendant to formulate a response,” and 10 “permit the Court to ‘draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the 11 misconduct alleged.’” Id. (citing Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949). 12 With respect to the patent infringement allegations against Millennial Media and 13 Jumptap, Streetspace has failed to identify a single infringing service. Streetspace’s general 14 assertion of infringement against Millennial Media and Jumptap “for providing personalized 15 information and/or targeted online advertising services based on location, consumers’ profiles 16 and/or usage history,” is far too vague to state a claim of patent infringement that is “plausible on 17 its face.” Iqbal, 129 S. Ct. at 1949. 18 This court and others have properly dismissed patent infringement claims where plaintiffs 19 have not identified specific products or services. See, e.g., Gen-Probe, Inc. v. Amoco Corp., 926 20 F. Supp. 948, 962 (S.D. Cal. 1996) (granting Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal because “pointing vaguely 21 to ‘products and/or kits’ . . . does not provide adequate notice as required by the Rules, and does 22 not reflect the reasonable inquiry required by the Rules”); LG Elecs., 2010 WL 889541, at *4 23 (requiring plaintiff to specifically identify allegedly infringing products and finding list of 24 allegedly infringing product types to be insufficient); Hewlett-Packard Co. v. Intergraph Corp., 25 No. C 03-2517 MJJ, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26092, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Sept. 6, 2003) (dismissing 26 plaintiff’s complaint that defendant’s “software and hardware products” infringed the patent 27 because the allegations did not provide defendant with “fair notice” as to what claims to defend); 28 Realtime Data, LLC v. Morgan Stanley, No. 6:09CV326, 2010 WL 2403779, at *5 (E.D. Tex. 5 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 June 10, 2010) (granting Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal because plaintiff’s allegations did not 2 “specifically identify any accused products or services” and finding the identification of “data 3 compression products and/or services” too vague). 4 By failing to identify any specific service, Streetspace has not put Millennial Media and 5 Jumptap on fair notice as to what services are subject to the infringement claim. Streetspace’s 6 allegations against Millennial Media and Jumptap are even more vague than the allegations at 7 issue in Gen-Probe, LG Electronics, Hewlett-Packard and Realtime Data. As the Supreme 8 Court has cautioned, “a district court must retain the power to insist upon some specificity in 9 pleading before allowing a potentially massive factual controversy to proceed.” Associated Gen. 10 Contractors of Cal., Inc. v. Carpenters, 459 U.S. 519, 528 n.17 (1983). Millennial Media and 11 Jumptap should not be required to engage in a time-consuming investigation without knowing 12 the specific services alleged to infringe the ’969 Patent. As such, the court should at a minimum 13 dismiss the First Amended Complaint against Millennial Media and Jumptap. 14 Moreover, the dismissal should be with prejudice. In granting Streetspace leave to file an 15 amended complaint in the face of the Defendants’ first motion to dismiss, the Court already has 16 provided Streetspace the opportunity to amend its complaint to fix the foregoing deficiencies. 17 Streetspace’s First Amended Complaint, however, still does not specify any service provided by 18 Millennial Media or Jumptap that directly infringes the ’969 Patent. It cannot because direct 19 infringement “requires that each and every limitation set forth in a claim appear in an accused 20 product,” Franks Casing Crew & Rental Tools, Inc. v. Weatherford Int’l, Inc., 389 F.3d 1370, 21 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2004) (internal citation omitted). Among other limitations, each claim in the 22 ’969 patent requires a “terminal.” ’969 patent claims 1, 12, and 19. Neither Millennial Media 23 nor Jumptap sells, uses, or otherwise provides a “terminal” when providing any of their services 24 to their customers. Thus, even under Streetspace’s incorrect and baseless apparent construction 25 of “terminal,” it cannot identify any specific service provided by Millennial Media or Jumptap 26 that includes a “terminal”. Indeed, as admitted in the First Amended Complaint, the alleged 27 “terminal” is provided and used by the consumer, not Millennial Media or Jumptap: 28 6 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD • 1 “Streetspace is informed and believes and based thereon alleges that Millennial 2 Media utilizes server software and/or tracking cookies located on consumer 3 terminals in order to identify consumers and target ads.” First Amended Compl. ¶ 4 179. • 5 “Streetspace is informed and believes and based thereon alleges that Jumptap 6 utilizes server software and/or tracking cookies located on consumer terminals in 7 order to identify consumers and target ads.” First Amended Compl. ¶ 194. 8 Thus, although Streetspace alleges that Millennial Media and Jumptap directly infringe 9 the ’969 Patent by “providing [some unspecified] services,” it does not and cannot identify any 10 specific service provided by these defendants in which Millennial Media and Jumptap sell, use, 11 offer or otherwise provide the required “terminal.” Streetspace has not stated and cannot state a 12 claim for direct infringement against Millennial Media and Jumptap, and those claims should be 13 dismissed with prejudice. 14 15 16 C. Streetspace’s Indirect Infringement Allegations Are Insufficiently Stated and Fail to Meet the Pleading Requirements of Twombly and Iqbal Streetspace also fails to sufficiently allege claims for inducement under 35 U.S.C. 17 § 271(b). The First Amended Complaint does not adequately allege the requisite pre-filing 18 knowledge of the ’969 Patent on the part of any Defendant. 19 There are two types of indirect patent infringement: active inducement under 35 U.S.C. 20 § 271(b) and contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C. § 271(c). In its original Complaint, 21 Streetspace accused all Defendants of both types of indirect infringement. Now, with its First 22 Amended Complaint, Streetspace has not asserted any claim for contributory infringement, but 23 still asserts a claim for active inducement against each Defendant. Despite having had the 24 benefit of a do-over with its First Amended Complaint, Streetspace has still failed to plead any 25 facts that would allow a court to draw a reasonable inference that any of the Defendants is liable 26 for indirect infringement. Accordingly, Streetspace’s allegations “do not suffice,” and its First 27 Amended Complaint should be dismissed under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a 28 claim upon which relief can be granted, at least as to all claims for indirect infringement. 7 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 “Inducement requires a showing that the alleged inducer knew of the patent¸ knowingly 2 induced the infringing acts, and possessed a specific intent to encourage another’s infringement 3 of the patent.” Vita-Mix Corp. v. Basic Holding, Inc., 581 F.3d 1317, 1328 (Fed. Cir. 2009) 4 (citing DSU Med. Corp. v. JMS Co., 471 F.3d 1293, 1304 (Fed. Cir. 2006 (en banc in relevant 5 part) (emphasis added). Streetspace admits that it had no factual basis to allege that any of the 6 Defendants knew of the ’969 Patent prior to the filing of the Complaint, and that it can allege 7 only that “Defendants knew of the ’969 patent since at least August 23, 2010 (the filing date of 8 the original complaint).” (Response to Order to Show Cause, Dkt. No. 39, at 3). But that 9 allegation is inadequate as a matter of law: “knowledge after filing of the present action is not 10 sufficient for pleading the requisite knowledge for indirect infringement.” Xpoint Techs. Inc., v. 11 Microsoft Corp., No. 09-628, 2010 WL 3187025, *6 (D. Del. Aug. 12, 2010) (emphasis added) 12 (citing Mallinckrodt v. E-Z-Em, Inc., 670 F.Supp.2d 349, 354 n.1 (D. Del. 2009)). If the law 13 were otherwise, a plaintiff could fabricate a claim of indirect patent infringement simply by 14 filing a complaint, and then—perhaps the next day—filing an amended complaint alleging that 15 Defendants were on notice of the patent-in-suit at least as early as the date of the original 16 complaint. Thus, by its own admissions, Streetspace has not and cannot plead a legally sufficient 17 claim for indirect infringement against any Defendant. 18 As to Google, Streetspace asserts that: 19 Streetspace is informed and believes and based thereon alleges that Google operates a search engine and database called Google Patents comprising patents and published patent applications from the United States Patent & Trademark Office. All of the approximately 7 million U.S. patents have been put in the database including the ’969 patent. 20 21 22 First Amended Compl. ¶ 72. But the mere presence of the ’969 Patent within the comprehensive 23 Google Patents database is not sufficient to support a reasonable inference that anyone at Google 24 actually was aware of the existence of the ’969 Patent. Thus, this factual assertion is not 25 sufficient to support any inference that Google had actual awareness of the ’969 Patent prior to 26 the filing of the Complaint. See, e.g., Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555, 570 (holding that a complaint 27 must “raise a right to relief above the speculative level” and must “state a claim to relief that is 28 plausible on its face.”); Hackford v. Babbitt, 14 F.3d 1457, 1465 (10th Cir. 1994) (holding that 8 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 federal courts “are not bound by conclusory allegations, unwarranted inferences, or legal 2 conclusions” stated in a complaint). 3 Streetspace asserts that it should, nonetheless, be entitled to a discovery fishing 4 expedition because “it remains to be seen whether any Defendant actually knew of the ’969 5 patent . . . , which will be the subject of discovery.” (Response at 3.) But “remains to be seen” is 6 not a cognizable placeholder allowing Streetspace to take discovery to ascertain whether the 7 Defendants had any knowledge of the ’969 Patent prior to Streetspace’s Complaint. Either 8 Streetspace can plead that Defendants had the requisite knowledge of the ’969 Patent at the time 9 it filed the original Complaint, or it cannot. The pleading standard under Rule 8 “does not 10 unlock the doors of discovery for a plaintiff armed with nothing more than conclusions.” Iqbal, 11 129 S. Ct. at 1950. By admitting that it does not have any factual basis to allege that Defendants 12 knew of the ’969 Patent prior to the filing of the original Complaint, Streetspace’s allegations are 13 nothing more than “formulaic recitations of the elements” and specifically prohibited by the 14 Supreme Court. Twombly, 550 U.S. at 555. Further, because by Streetspace’s own admissions 15 that “it remains to be seen whether any Defendant actually knew of the ’969 patent,” (Response 16 at 3), any amendment would be futile and the inducement claims should be dismissed with 17 prejudice. 18 IV. CONCLUSION 19 Streetspace’s First Amended Complaint does not and cannot state a claim for direct 20 infringement against defendants Millennial Media and Jumptap, and those claims should be 21 dismissed with prejudice. In addition, Streetspace’s First Amended Complaint does not and 22 cannot to state a claim for indirect patent infringement upon which relief can be granted against 23 any of the Defendants, and those claims should be dismissed without leave to amend. 24 25 26 27 28 9 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Dated: March 22, 2011 By: /s/ Timothy J. Rousseau Kurt M. Kjelland (CSB 172076) kkjelland@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP 4365 Executive Drive Third Floor San Diego, CA 92121 Tel: (858) 202-2728 Fax: (858) 457-1255 Douglas J. Kline dkline@goodwinprocter.com William A. Meunier wmeunier@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP Exchange Place 53 State Street Boston, MA 02109 Tel: (617) 570-1000 Fax: (617) 523-1231 18 Timothy J. Rousseau trousseau@goodwinprocter.com GOODWIN PROCTER LLP The New York Times Building 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018 Tel: (212) 813-8800 Fax: (212) 355-3333 19 Attorneys for Defendant JUMPTAP, INC. 14 15 16 17 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 10 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 /s/ Christopher C. Campbell John S. Kyle (CA 199196) jkyle@cooley.com COOLEY LLP 4401 Eastgate Mall San Diego, CA 92121 Tel: (858) 550-6000 Fax: (858) 550-6420 Frank V. Pietrantonio fpietrantonio@cooley.com Christopher C. Campbell ccampbell@cooley.com COOLEY LLP One Freedom Square 11951 Freedom Drive Reston, VA 20190-5656 Tel: (703) 456-8000 Fax: (703) 456-8100 Attorneys for Defendant MILLENNIAL MEDIA, INC. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 /s/ Luann L. Simmons George A. Riley (SB# 118304) griley@omm.com Luann L. Simmons (SB# 203526) lsimmons@omm.com Anne E. Huffsmith (SB# 236438) ahuffsmith@omm.com O’MELVENY & MYERS LLP Two Embarcadero Center, 28th Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: (415) 984-8700 Fax: (415) 984-8701 Attorneys for Defendants APPLE INC. and QUATTRO WIRELESS, INC. 24 25 26 27 28 11 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 /s/ David Heskel Ben-Meir David Heskel Ben-Meir (CSB 192028) d.ben-meir@alston.com ALSTON & BIRD LLP 333 South Hope Street, 16th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90071 Tel: (213) 576-1133 Fax: (213) 576-1100 Attorney for Defendants NOKIA, INC., NOKIA CORPORATION and NAVTEQ, INC. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 /s/ Shawn E. McDonald Matthew B. Lowrie mlowrie@foley.com FOLEY & LARDNER LLP 111 Huntington Avenue, Suite 2600 Boston, MA 02119-7610 Tel: (617) 342-4000 Fax: (617) 342-4001 Shawn E. McDonald (CSB 237580) semcdonald@foley.com Justin E. Gray jegray@foley.com FOLEY & LARDNER LLP 3579 Valley Centre Drive, Suite 300 San Diego, CA 92130 Tel: (858) 847-6700 Fax: (858) 792-6773 Attorneys for Defendants GOOGLE INC. and ADMOB, INC. 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 12 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD 1 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 2 The undersigned hereby certifies that a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing 3 document has been served on March 22, 2011, to all counsel of record who are deemed to have 4 consented to electronic service via the Court’s CM/ECF system per Civil Local Rule 5.4. Any 5 counsel of record who have not consented to electronic service through the Court’s CM/ECF 6 system will be served by electronic mail, first class mail, facsimile and/or overnight delivery. 7 8 Timothy J. Rousseau Timothy J. Rousseau 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 13 MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS’ RULE 12(B)(6) MOTION TO DISMISS CASE NO. 3:10-CV-01757-LAB-MDD

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