Network-1 Security Solutions, Inc. v. Hewlett Packard Company

Filing 39

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF UNITES STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE (Docket No. 1035 in Case Number 6:11-CV-492). The Court OVERRULES Plaintiff's objections regarding claim broadening of claim 21. The Court therefore ADOPTS the findings and conclusions of the Magistrate Judge as those of the Court. In light of the foregoing, it is ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment of Invalidity Under 35 U.S.C. § 305 as to claim 21 of the 930 Patent, Docket No. 609 (in Case No. 6:11-CV-492) is GRANTED. Signed by District Judge Robert W. Schroeder, III on 11/7/2017. (rlf)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS
TYLER DIVISION
NETWORK-1 TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Plaintiff,
v.
HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY,
HEWLETT-PACKARD ENTERPRISE
COMPANY,

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 6:13-CV-00072-RWS

Defendants.

ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
OF UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE
The above-entitled and numbered civil action was referred to United States Magistrate
Judge K. Nicole Mitchell pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 636. Before the Court are Plaintiff Network-1
Technologies, Inc.’s (“Plaintiff” or “Network-1”) objections to the Report and Recommendation
of the United States Magistrate Judge (Docket No. 1081 in Case No. 6:11-cv-492)1 regarding
Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment of Invalidity Under 35 U.S.C. § 305. Having
reviewed the written objections de novo, Plaintiff’s objections are OVERRULED. The
Magistrate Judge’s Report and Recommendation (“Report,” Docket No. 1035) is accordingly
ADOPTED.
Plaintiff objects to the Report’s finding that “the ‘low level current’ element of claim 6
was impermissibly broadened in claim 21.” Docket No. 1081 at 2. Plaintiff argues that the Court
should have used Network-1’s proposed construction of “low level current” in determining
whether claim 21 is broader than claim 6. Id.
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All references to the docket refer to Case No. 6:11-cv-492 unless otherwise specified.

The Court previously construed “low level current” of claim 6 to mean “a non-data signal
current that is sufficient to being start up of the access device but that is not sufficient to sustain
the start up.” Doc. No. 693 at 12. With that construction, “the Court imposed both an upper
bound (the current level cannot be sufficient to sustain start up) … and a lower bound (the
current level must be sufficient to begin startup).” Docket No. 1035 at 5. However, Network-1’s
proposed claim construction for “low level current” is “a current at a level that is sufficiently low
that, by itself, it will not operate the access device,” which only requires an upper bound. Docket
No. 596 at 16–19.
Plaintiff argues that under its proposed claim construction, claim 21 is not improperly
broadened because no lower bound is required and thus the upper bound in claims 6 and 21 cover
the same scope. Docket No. 1081 at 2. However, Plaintiff recognizes that “the Court (both the
Magistrate Judge and District Judge) must apply that construction in addressing this motion,
unless that construction were to be reversed” and seeks to preserve this issue for appeal. Id. The
Court has already reviewed the Magistrate Judge’s claim construction, considered the parties’
arguments in the underlying briefing, and overruled the objections thereto. Docket No. 860.
As the remainder of the Plaintiff’s brief consists of the arguments that Network-1 made in
addressing the underlying motion, see Docket No. 871, which the Court has already reviewed de
novo, Plaintiff’s objections are overruled for the same reasons set forth in the Report.
For the reasons set forth above, the Court OVERRULES Plaintiff’s objections regarding
claim broadening of claim 21. The Court therefore ADOPTS the findings and conclusions of the
Magistrate Judge as those of the Court. In light of the foregoing, it is
ORDERED that Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment of Invalidity Under 35
U.S.C. § 305 as to claim 21 of the ‘930 Patent, Docket No. 609, is GRANTED.

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SIGNED this 7th day of November, 2017.

____________________________________
ROBERT W. SCHROEDER III
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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