Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Square Enix, Inc. et al
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND OPINION, ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE( Show Cause Hearing set for 5/28/2014 09:00 AM in Ctrm 106 (Marshall) before Judge Rodney Gilstrap.), Motions granting: 25 MOTION to Dismiss Babbage Holdings, LLC's First Amended Complaints Claims of Indirect Patent Infringement filed by Square Enix, Inc., Square Enix of America Holdings, Inc., denies-as-moot 13 Opposed MOTION to Dismiss Babbage Holdings, LLC's Claims of Indirect Patent Infringement filed by Square Enix, Inc., Square Enix of America Holdings, Inc. Signed by Judge Rodney Gilstrap on 05/14/2014. (nkl, )
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
MARSHALL DIVISION
BABBAGE HOLDINGS, LLC
Plaintiff,
v.
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
ACTIVISION BLIZZARD, INC., ACTIVISION, INC. and
BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT, INC.,
CAPCOM U.S.A., INC. and CAPCOM ENTERTAINMENT,
INC.,
ELECTRONIC ARTS INC.,
NAMCO BANDAI GAMES AMERICA, INC. and NAMCO
BANDAI HOLDINGS (USA),
UBISOFT, INC. and UBISOFT HOLDINGS, INC.,
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE, INC. ROCKSTAR
GAMES, INC., 2KSPORTS, INC. and 2K GAMES, INC.
SQUARE ENIX, INC. and SQUARE ENIX OF AMERICA
HOLDINGS, INC.,
RIOT GAMES, INC.
2:13-CV-750
2:13-CV-751
2:13-CV-753
2:13-CV-755
2:13-CV-758
2:13-CV-764
2:13-CV-765
2:13-CV-766
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Before the Court is Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss Babbage Holdings, LLC’s Second
Amended Complaints’ Claims of Indirect Patent Infringement. (See, e.g., Babbage Holdings,
LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 2:13-cv-750, ECF No. 24 (E.D. Tex. Jan. 23, 2014).) Having
considered the parties’ written submissions, the Court GRANTS Defendants’ Motion.
I.
BACKGROUND
Plaintiff Babbage Holdings, LLC (“Babbage”) filed suits against Defendants in the
above-styled cases between September 23, 2013 to September 26, 2013, alleging the infringement
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of one U.S. Patent No. 5,561,811 (the “’811 Patent”). The ’811 Patent expired on October 1,
2013. Summons as to each Defendant were not issued until October 9, 2013.
In both the Original Complaint and the subsequent first Amended Complaint, Babbage has
accused Defendants of actively inducing, as well as contributing to, the infringement of the ’811
Patent. Babbage claims that Defendants “knew of the ’811 Patent at least as early as the filing of
the Complaint.” (See, e.g., Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 2:13-cv-750, ECF
No. 1 ¶ 10 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 23, 2013); ECF No. 5 ¶ 10 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 26, 2013).) On December
20, 2013, Defendants filed their first Motion to Dismiss Babbage Holdings, LLC’s Claims of
Indirect Patent Infringement, based in part, on Babbage’s failure to plead knowledge of the ’811
Patent before its expiration.
(See Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc.,
2:13-cv-750, ECF No. 12 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 20, 2013).) Babbage submitted a Second Amended
Complaint on January 6, 2014, however, without altering the allegation as to Defendants’
knowledge of the ’811 Patent. (See, e.g., Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc.,
2:13-cv-750, ECF No. 18 ¶ 11 (E.D. Tex. Jan. 6, 2014).)
II.
APPLICABLE LAW
By written motion, a party may move to dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim
upon which relief can be granted. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Motions to dismiss are purely
procedural questions to which the Federal Circuit applies the law of the regional circuit.
CoreBrace LLC v. Star Seismic LLC, 566 F.3d 1069, 1072 (Fed. Cir. 2009).
To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a complaint must contain a “short and
plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(a).
Detailed factual allegations are not required, but the facts pleaded must, when accepted as true,
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state a claim for relief that is “plausible on its face,” i.e., the facts plead must allow the Court to
draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Bell Atlantic
Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007); see also Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009).
III.
ANALYSIS
By the present motion, Defendants seek to dismiss Babbage’s indirect infringement claims
pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6). Defendants argue, among other things, that Babbage’s
indirect infringement claims should be dismissed because Babbage has not plead facts that
plausibly establish Defendants’ knowledge of the ’811 Patent prior to its expiration date. The
Court agrees.
It is undisputed that both of Babbage’s indirect infringement claims require a Defendant to
have knowledge of the asserted patent during the time the ’811 Patent was in force. (See Babbage
Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 2:13-cv-750, ECF No. 27, at 3 (E.D. Tex. Feb. 10,
2014).) Babbage alleges no pre-suit knowledge of the ’811 Patent of any Defendant, but instead
relies exclusively on the filing of the original complaint as the basis to establish knowledge. (See,
e.g., Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 2:13-cv-750, ECF No. 18 ¶ 11 (E.D. Tex.
Jan. 16, 2014) (“Defendants…knew of the ’811 Patent at least as early as the filing of the original
complaint.”).) Meanwhile, however, Babbage does not dispute that the ’811 Patent expired only
a matter of a few days after the complaints were filed, and clearly before summons were issued or
any Defendant was officially served. Nonetheless, Babbage argues that the filing of the original
complaints a few days before the expiration date of the ’811 Patent, in and of itself, was sufficient
to establish knowledge. (See Babbage Holdings, LLC v. Activision Blizzard Inc., 2:13-cv-750,
ECF No. 27, at 3-5 (E.D. Tex. Feb. 10, 2014).) Taken literally, Babbage takes the position that
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each Defendant, some located hundreds or thousands of miles away, must have sensed the
existence of the ’811 Patent the moment Babbage filed the complaints against them. This Court
knows of no authority that provides for some form of constructive notice of the matters within a
complaint effected simply by its filing in a U.S. District Court. If such were the case, the process
of personal service via a summons would be a duplicative waste of time. Given these facts,
Babbage’s indirect infringement claims must fail for the lack of any plausible allegation of
Defendants’ actual knowledge of the ’811 Patent while it was still in force.
Though not alleged in its Second Amended Complaint, Babbage further argues that
Defendants could have alternatively obtained knowledge of the ’811 Patent through notice letters
Babbage had sent between September 24, 2013 and September 27, 2013, which contained a copy
of the relevant original complaint and the ’811 Patent. Babbage does not make it clear whether
these notice letters were sent via physical mail, electronic means or otherwise. Even assuming
the notice letters were delivered and received on the same day Babbage sent them, and further
assuming that such notice letters sufficiently established Defendants’ knowledge of the ’811
Patent, Babbage’s indirect infringement claims would then be entirely based on Defendants’
conduct between September 24 or 27, 2013 to October 1, 2013 when the ’811 Patent expired. If
this is true, Babbage is asking this Court to sustain a claim of damages for alleged indirect
infringement which lasted three to six days at the maximum. Such damages, if any, are de
minimis on their face, and Babbage has not shown otherwise. Even affording Babbage every
possible benefit of the doubt, it has failed to allege more than a de minimis indirect infringement
claim, which does not justify or support the use of this Court’s limited resources.
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IV.
CONCLUSION
For the reasons stated above, the Court hereby GRANTS Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss
Babbage Holding, LLC’s Second Amended Complaints’ Claims of Indirect Patent Infringement
(Case No. 2:13-cv-750, Dkt. No. 24; Case No. 2:13-cv-751, Dkt. No. 25; Case No. 2:13-cv-753,
Dkt. No. 25; Case No. 2:13-cv-755, Dkt. No. 25; Case No. 2:13-cv-758, Dkt. No. 26; Case No.
2:13-cv-764, Dkt. No. 26; Case No. 2:13-cv-765, Dkt. No. 25; Case No. 2:13-cv-766, Dkt. No.
26.)
Babbage’s indirect patent infringement claims are hereby DISMISSED WITH
PREJUDICE. In light of this dismissal, the Court further DENIES-AS-MOOT Defendants’
first Opposed Motion to Dismiss Babbage Holdings, LLC’s Claims of Indirect Patent
Infringement (Case No. 2:13-cv-750, Dkt. No. 12; Case No. 2:13-cv-751, Dkt. No. 13; Case No.
2:13-cv-753, Dkt. No. 13; Case No. 2:13-cv-755, Dkt. No. 13; Case No. 2:13-cv-765, Dkt. No.
13.)
Finally, by presenting any pleading to the Court, any party, here Babbage, affirmatively
certifies (after making a reasonable inquiry under the then existing circumstances) that its
assertions are warranted by existing law, are non-frivolous, and are not presented for any improper
purpose. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 11(b). The circumstances surrounding this motion raise, in the
Court’s view, a real and legitimate concern that Babbage may have violated such duties, especially
in light of its Second Amended Complaint which was filed after Defendants had urged the
dismissal of Babbage’s indirect infringement allegations but which continued to assert the same
claim of indirect infringement as included in its earlier complaints. Accordingly, Babbage is
hereby ORDERED to appear and show cause why sanctions should not be imposed in light of the
above conduct. Such show cause hearing shall take place before the Court at 9:00 am, on May
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28, 2014.
SIGNED this 19th day of December, 2011.
So ORDERED and SIGNED this 14th day of May, 2014.
____________________________________
RODNEY GILSTRAP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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