Interval Licensing LLC v. AOL, Inc. et al

Filing 81

MOTION to Dismiss or Sever Pursuant to FRCP 20 & 21 by Defendant Apple Inc. (Attachments: #1 Proposed Order) Noting Date 11/12/2010, (Roller, Jeremy)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 v. AOL, INC., et al., Defendants.

Hon. Marsha J. Pechman

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON INTERVAL LICENSING LLC, Plaintiff, No. 2:10-CV-01385-MJP DEFENDANT APPLE INC.'S MOTION TO DISMISS OR SEVER PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 20 AND 21 NOTE ON MOTION CALENDAR: November 12, 2010

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 20 and 21, Defendant Apple Inc. ("Apple") respectfully moves the Court to dismiss or sever Apple from this case. Plaintiff Interval Licensing LLC ("Interval") cannot satisfy the "same transaction or occurrence" prong of the test for permissive joinder for the reasons set forth in Google Inc. and YouTube LLC's (collectively, "Google") joint Motion To Dismiss Or Sever For Misjoinder Pursuant To Fed. R. Civ. P. 20 and 21. (Docket No. 63.) As summarized in Google's motion, Interval does not allege that the defendants are jointly or severally liable, conspired to infringe the asserted patents, or acted in concert in any way with respect to the asserted patents. Nor has Interval alleged that there is any nexus or connection between the accused products. Interval has not even alleged that all of the defendants infringe the same asserted patents. There is simply no allegation that Apple APPLE'S MOTION TO SEVER NO. 2:10-CV-01385-MJP ­ Page 1
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and the other defendants are anything other than separate companies that sell separate products. 1 Interval has thus failed to establish a right to relief against Apple and the other defendants "with respect to or arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences." Fed. R. Civ. P. 20(a). Further, there will be no substantial right that will be prejudiced by severance. To the contrary, severance will avoid prejudicing Apple and other defendants from having to litigate disparate allegations, evidence, accused products, arguments, and theories. In the interest of expeditiously disposing of or managing this case, Apple hereby joins in Google's motion and incorporates by reference the authority and arguments presented therein. 2 Accordingly, based on that authority and those arguments as well as the analysis in this motion, Apple requests that the Court dismiss or sever Apple from this case. Notwithstanding any decision on this motion, Apple expressly reserves its right under Rule 20(b), Rule 42(b), the Court's inherent authority, and/or any other source of law to move for a separate trial. Apple expressly reserves the right to file its own brief in reply to any opposition filed by Interval. /// /// /// /// /// ///
1

Concurrent with this motion, Apple has filed a Motion To Dismiss For Failure To State A Claim Upon Which Relief Can Be Granted Pursuant To Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6), based in part on Interval's failure to identify the specific Apple products and/or services, if any, that allegedly infringe. There is no basis to assume any common transaction or occurrence between any of Apple's products or services and any of the other defendant's products or services. Apple does not join the first sentence of footnote 2 in Google's motion. (Docket No. 63 at 6:26.)

2

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DATED: October 21, 2010.

O'MELVENY & MYERS LLP By: /s/ Brian M. Berliner Brian M. Berliner, CA Bar No. 156732 (pro hac vice) Neil L. Yang, CA Bar No. 262719 (pro hac vice) 400 South Hope Street Los Angeles, CA 90071 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: 213.430.6407 Email: [e-mail]; [e-mail] George A. Riley, CA Bar No. 118304 (pro hac vice) David S. Almeling, CA Bar No. 235449 (pro hac vice) Two Embarcadero Center, 28th Floor San Francisco, CA 94111-3823 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: 415.984.8701 Email: [e-mail]; [e-mail] YARMUTH WILSDON CALFO PLLC By: /s/ Jeremy E. Roller Scott T. Wilsdon, WSBA No. 20608 Jeremy E. Roller, WSBA No. 32021 818 Stewart Street, Suite 1400 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: [phone] Facsimile: 206.516.3888 Email: [e-mail]; [e-mail] Attorneys for Defendant Apple Inc.

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on this date, I electronically filed the foregoing document with the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system, which will send notification of such filing to: Attorneys for Plaintiff Justin A. Nelson Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Plaintiff Eric J. Enger Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Plaintiff Nathan J. Davis Email: [e-mail] Attorney for eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, & Staples J. Christopher Caraway Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Aaron Chase Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube John Handy Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Aneelah Afzali Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Office Depot Edward J. Bennett Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Plaintiff Matthew R. Berry Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Plaintiff Michael F. Heim Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Plaintiff Max L. Tribble Email: [e-mail] Attorney for eBay, Netflix, Office Depot, & Staples John D. Vandenberg Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Dimitrios T. Drivas Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Kevin X. McGann Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Scott A. W. Johnson Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Office Depot Michael D. Hunsinger Email: [e-mail]

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Attorney for Office Max Kevin Carl Baumgardner Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Dario A. Machleidt Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Francis Ho Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Michael A. Jacobs Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Mark P. Walters Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Warren S. Heit Email: [e-mail] Attorney for OfficeMax John S. Letchinger Email: [e-mail]

Attorney for Office Max Steven Fogg Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Eric W. Ow Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Matthew I. Kreeger Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Yahoo! Richard S. J. Hung Email: [e-mail] Attorney for Google & YouTube Shannon M. Jost Email: [e-mail] Attorney for OfficeMax Jeffrey D. Neumeyer Email: [e-mail]

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct. Dated this 21st day of October, 2010 at Seattle, Washington. /s/ Colette Saunders Colette Saunders Legal Assistant

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