Mangosoft, Inc. v. Oracle Corp.

• Decision Date: 14 May 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2007-1250.,2007-1250.
• Citation: 525 F.3d 1327
• Parties: MANGOSOFT, INC. and Mangosoft Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ORACLE CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Federal Circuit

525 F.3d 1327

MANGOSOFT, INC. and Mangosoft Corporation, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. ORACLE CORPORATION, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 2007-1250.

United States Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit.

May 14, 2008.

Donald R. Dunner, Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, L.L.P. of Washington, DC, argued for plaintiffs-appellants. With him on the brief were Don O. Burley; and Erik R. Puknys, of Palo Alto, CA. Of counsel on the brief were Paul J. Hayes and Robert R. Gilman, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C., of Boston, MA.

Matthew D. Powers, Weil Gotshal & Manges, LLP, of Redwood Shores, CA, argued for defendant-appellee. With him on the brief was Douglas E. Lumish. Of counsel were Paul T. Ehrlich and Leeron G. Kalay.

Before MICHEL, Chief Judge, LINN and PROST, Circuit Judges.

LINN, Circuit Judge.

Mangosoft, Inc. and Mangosoft Corporation (collectively, "Mangosoft") appeal from a final judgment of the district court following a summary judgment order holding that Oracle Corporation ("Oracle") did not infringe Mangosoft's U.S. Patent No. 6,148,377 ("the '377 patent"). Mangosoft, Inc. v. Oracle Corp., 421 F.Supp.2d 392 (D.N.H. 2006) ("Summary Judgment Opinion"). Because Mangosoft's arguments on appeal relate solely to claim construction, and because we find no error in the district court's construction of the sole claim term raised on appeal, we affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

Mangosoft owns the '377 patent, which relates to "computer networking systems and methods that provide shared memory systems and services." '377 patent col.1 ll.4-6. Specifically, the '377 patent discloses "systems that can create and manage a virtual memory space that can be shared by each computer on a network and can span the storage space of each memory device connected to the network." Id. col.2 ll.21-24. In contrast to traditional client-server networks, where servers with significant memory capacity served as "central repositor[ies] of network data," id. col.1 ll.23-28, the '377 patent describes a system that pools together the storage capacity of individual computers (or nodes) on the network to form a "virtual memory space," see id. col.2 ll.21-28. Thus, the disclosed storage system emphasizes decentralized storage, which leverages the storage capacity of individual client computers by allowing all of the nodes of the network to contribute portions of their local persistent (e.g., hard disk) storage and volatile (e.g., RAM) memory to a virtual pool of storage and memory accessible by the entire network.

In 2002, Mangosoft filed suit against Oracle and accused Oracle's Real Applications Clusters ("RAC") software, sold in conjunction with its 9i and 10g database software, of infringing a total of 38 claims of both the '377 patent and a related patent. Oracle counterclaimed for a declaratory judgment of invalidity, unenforceability, and non-infringement. In 2004, the district court construed several disputed claim terms after holding a Markman hearing. With respect to the term "local," it held that

the word "local" when used to modify a computer device means a computer device (e.g., a hard drive) that is directly attached to a single computer's processor by, for example, the computer's bus.

Mangosoft, Inc. v. Oracle Corp., No. 02-CV-545, 2004 WL 2193614, slip op. at 20 (D.N.H. Sept. 21, 2004) ("Claim Construction Opinion") (noting additionally that a hard disk "that is `local' to one computer may also be shared with, or accessed by, other computers on the network"). The district court distinguished "local" memory devices from "shared," "networked," or "remote" memory devices, and rejected Mangosoft's request to construe "local" to "simply requir[e] a computer memory device that is somehow `linked' to a computer (whether directly or indirectly)." Id. at 18-20 (noting that such a construction would render the term "local" superfluous or redundant in light of claim 1's requirement that local memory devices be "coupled" to a computer).

Following this order, Mangosoft amended its list of asserted claims to allege infringement only of claims 1, 5, and 9 of the '377 patent. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment on the issues of infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability of the '377 patent. Summary Judgment Opinion at 1-2. The district court concluded that, as a matter of law, Oracle did not infringe any of the asserted claims; the court left most of the invalidity and inequitable conduct issues unresolved. Id. at 409. In so holding, the district court agreed with Oracle that "the memory space shared in RAC clusters does not span local persistent memory devices." Id. at 397. Approximately one year later, the district court dismissed Oracle's counterclaim without prejudice, and entered judgment of non-infringement in favor of Oracle. Mangosoft, Inc. v. Oracle Corp., 482 F.Supp.2d 179 (D.N.H. 2007). Mangosoft timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

II. DISCUSSION

This appeal presents a question of claim construction involving a single claim term. The parties' arguments turn on the singular issue of what it means for a storage device, such as a hard disk, to be "local" to a particular computer, or node, in a computer network. Mangosoft contends that in construing the claim term "local," the district court improperly imported what Mangosoft characterizes as the "direct" and "unique" connection limitations. See Claim Construction Opinion at 20 (requiring that local memory devices be "directly attached to a single computer's processor" (emphases added)). It argues that the district court derived these limitations solely from a technical dictionary definition proffered by Oracle, although this dictionary was not cited by the district court. See id. at 18-20. Mangosoft contends that a "local" memory device should be construed as "a memory device that ... can be contributed to the shared addressable memory space by a particular node." Oracle responds that the claim language, specification, prosecution history, and reliable extrinsic evidence support the district court's construction. We agree with Oracle.

Mangosoft relies heavily on the fact that the district court's opinion preceded Phillips v. AWH Corp., 415 F.3d 1303 (Fed.Cir.2005) (en banc), and principally argues that the result was improperly influenced by references made by the parties to a technical dictionary. Mangosoft's position is misplaced for several reasons and places undue weight on what it contends was the district court's reliance on the Texas Digital methodology. See generally Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1319-22 (discussing Tex. Digital Sys., Inc. v. Telegenix, Inc., 308 F.3d 1193 (Fed.Cir.2002)). First, while there is no question that dictionaries were considered, even Phillips recognized that reference to such sources is not prohibited so long as the ultimate construction given to the claims in question is grounded in the intrinsic evidence and not based upon definitions considered in the abstract. Phillips, 415 F.3d at 1318 (noting that "dictionaries, and especially technical dictionaries, endeavor to collect the accepted meanings of terms used in various fields of science and technology" and thus "have been properly recognized as among the many tools that can assist the court in determining the meaning of particular terminology to those of skill in the art of the invention"); see also Acumed LLC v. Stryker Corp., 483 F.3d 800, 809 n. 2 (Fed.Cir.2007) ("Although in Phillips we rejected an approach in which a broad dictionary definition is adopted and then whittled down only if contradicted by the specification, we did not prohibit the use of dictionaries in claim construction, nor did we define at what point in the claim construction analysis they may be consulted." (internal citation omitted)); Old Town Canoe Co. v. Confluence Holdings Corp., 448 F.3d 1309, 1316 (Fed.Cir. 2006) ("The district court's reference to the dictionary was not an improper attempt to find meaning in the abstract divorced from the context of the intrinsic record but properly was a starting point in its analysis, which was centered around the intrinsic record consistent with Phillips."). Second, we review judgments, not opinions, and need not focus on the methodology used by the district court. Interactive Gift Express, Inc. v. Compuserve Inc., 256 F.3d 1323, 1346 (Fed.Cir.2001) (noting "the familiar principle that this court does not review supporting arguments, but only the decisions reached by the trial court" (citing Stratoflex, Inc. v. Aeroquip Corp., 713 F.2d 1530, 1540 (Fed. Cir.1983))); see also Acumed, 483 F.3d at 809 n. 2 ("Our de novo review means that we need not decide whether the logic or subsidiary definitions used by the district court to reach the correct construction were sound.... We review only the district court's finished product, not its process."). Finally, even though the district court did not have the benefit of Phillips at the time of its decision, the court's claim construction is fully consistent with and supported by the intrinsic record—as well as the dictionary—and thus fully comports with our precedent. We begin with the language of the claims.

The district court's construction of the term "local" is consistent with the language of claim 1. The same cannot be said for Mangosoft's position. Mangosoft's construction would read "local" to mean something beyond the breadth of anything in the claims or the specification by giving that term attributes of control. The problem is that nothing in the intrinsic record describes or supports such an expansive meaning. Moreover, the broader construction proffered by Mangosoft—"a memory device that ... can be contributed to the shared addressable memory space by a particular node" — would render the claim term "local" superfluous. This was recognized by the district court. See Claim Construction Opinion at 19-20. Claim 1 requires that each local persistent memory...