Realtime Data LLC v. Array Networks Inc.

• Decision Date: 23 August 2021
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 17-0800-CFC CONSOLIDATED, Civil Action No. 17-0925-CFC
• Citation: Realtime Data LLC v. Array Networks Inc., 556 F.Supp.3d 424 (D. Del. 2021)
• Parties: REALTIME DATA LLC, Plaintiff, v. ARRAY NETWORKS INC., et al., Defendants. Realtime Data LLC, Plaintiff, v. Spectra Logic Corp., Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

556 F.Supp.3d 424

REALTIME DATA LLC, Plaintiff,

v.ARRAY NETWORKS INC., et al., Defendants.

Realtime Data LLC, Plaintiff,

v.Spectra Logic Corp., Defendant.

Civil Action No. 17-0800-CFC CONSOLIDATED

Civil Action No. 17-0925-CFC

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

Signed August 23, 2021

Stephen B. Brauerman, BAYARD, P.A., Wilmington, Delaware; Marc A. Fenster, Brian D. Ledahl, Reza Mirzaie, Paul A. Kroeger, C. Jay Chung, Christian X. Conkle, Adam S. Hoffman, Philip X. Wang, RUSS AUGUST & KABAT, Los Angeles, California, Counsel for Plaintiff.

Geoffrey Graham Grivner, BUCHANAN INGERSOLL & ROONEY P.C., Wilmington, Delaware; S. Lloyd Smith, Brian Gold, BUCHANAN INGERSOLL & ROONEY PC, Alexandria, Virginia, Counsel for Defendant Array Networks, Inc.

Jack B. Blumenfeld, Brian P. Egan, MORRIS, NICHOLS, ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Jeffrey J. Lyons, BAKER & HOSTETLER, Wilmington, Delaware, Counsel for Defendant Fortinet, Inc.

Andrew Colin Mayo, ASHBY & GEDDES, Wilmington, Delaware; Guy Yonay, Kyle Auteri, PEARL COHEN ZEDEK LATZER BARATZ LLP, New York, New York, Counsel for Defendant Reduxio Systems, Inc. and CTERA Networks, Ltd.

Jack B. Blumenfeld, Brian P. Egan, MORRIS, NICHOLS, ARSHT & TUNNELL LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Jeffrey J. Lyons, BAKER & HOSTETLER, Wilmington, Delaware; Brian E. Mitchell, MITCHELL & COMPANY, San Francisco, California, Counsel for Defendant Panzura.

Steven L. Caponi, Matthew B. Goeller, K&L GATES LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Theodore J. Angelis, Elizabeth J. Weiskopf, Nicholas F. Lenning, K&L GATES LLP, Seattle, Washington, Counsel for Defendant Quest Software, Inc.

Kenneth Laurence Dorsney, MORRIS JAMES LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Joshua M. Masur, ZUBER LAWLER & DEL DUCA LLP, Redwood City, California, Counsel for Defendant Aryaka Networks, Inc.

Robert M. Vrana, YOUNG, CONWAY, STARGATT & TAYLOR LLP, Wilmington, Delaware, Counsel for Defendant Nimbus Data, Inc.

David Ellis Moore, Bindu Ann George Palapura, Alan Richard Silverstein, POTTER ANDERSON & CORROON, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Manny J. Caixeiro, Laura Wytsma, VENABLE LLP, Los Angeles, California; Timothy J. Carroll, VENABLE LLP, Chicago, Illinois; Elizabeth M. Manno, VENABLE LLP, Washington, District of Columbia; Scott S. Crocker, Steven R. Sprinkle, SPRINKLE LAW GROUP, Austin, Texas, Counsel for Defendant Open Text, Inc.

Rolin P. Bissell, Robert M. Vrana, YOUNG, CONWAY, STARGATT & TAYLOR LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Hilary L. Preston, VINSON & ELKINS LLP, New York, New York; Parker D. Hancock, VINSON & ELKINS LLP, Houston, Texas, Counsel for Defendant MongoDB Inc.

Carl Douglas Neff, FISHER BROYLES, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Ryan T. Beard, FISHER BROYLES, LLP, Austin, Texas; Christopher R. Kinkade, FISHER BROYLES, Princeton, New Jersey, Counsel for Defendant Egnyte, Inc.

David Ellis Moore, Bindu Ann George Palapura, Stephanie E. O'Bryne, POTTER ANDERSON & CORROON, LLP, Wilmington, Delaware; Robert E. Purcell, THE LAW OFFICE OF ROBERT E. PURCELL, PLLC, Syracuse, New York, Counsel for Defendant Spectra Logic Corp.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

COLM F. CONNOLLY, CHIEF JUDGE

Plaintiff Realtime Data LLC has sued Defendants for infringement of various combinations of seven patents it holds: U.S. Patent Nos. 7,415,530 (the #530 patent), 8,717,203 (the #203 patent), 8,933,825 (the #825 patent), 9,054,728 (the #728 patent), 9,116,908 (the #908 patent), 9,667,751 (the #751 patent), and 10,019,458 (the #458 patent). The asserted patents pertain to systems and methods involving data compression.

Pending before me are motions to dismiss pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) filed by the consolidated Defendants and Spectra Logic. D.I. 78;¹ Realtime Data LLC v. Spectra Logic Corp. , No. 17-0925, D.I. 68. Defendants argue that I should dismiss Realtime's complaints because the asserted patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 for failing to claim patentable subject matter.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Asserted Patents

The asserted patents all relate to methods and systems for compression and decompression of data. The asserted patents come from three patent families. The #203, #825, and #728 patents share one written description; the #530, #908, and #458 patents share another written description; and the #751 has a distinct written description. The #751 patent is titled "Data Feed Acceleration." The #530, #908, and #458 patents are titled "Systems and Methods for Accelerated Data Storage and Retrieval." And the #203, #825, and #728 patents are titled "Data Compression Systems and Methods." Not every patent is asserted against every defendant, but collectively Defendants challenge the validity of all asserted patents.

Claim 1 of the #751 patent recites

[a] method for compressing data comprising:

analyzing content of a data block to identify a parameter, attribute, or value of the data block that excludes analyzing based solely on reading a descriptor;

selecting an encoder associated with the identified parameter, attribute, or value;

compressing data in the data block with the selected encoder to produce a compressed data block, wherein the compressing includes utilizing a state machine; and

storing the compressed data block;

wherein the time of the compressing the data block and the storing the compressed data block is less than the time of storing the data block in uncompressed form.

Clam 1 of the #530 patent recites

[a] system comprising:

a memory device; and

a data accelerator, wherein said data accelerator is coupled to said memory device, a data stream is received by said data accelerator in received form, said data stream includes a first data block and a second data block, said data stream is compressed by said data accelerator to provide a compressed data stream by compressing said first data block with a first compression technique and said second data block with a second compression technique, said first and second compression techniques are different, said compressed data stream is stored on said memory device, said compression and storage occurs faster than said data stream is able to be stored on said memory device in said received form, a first data descriptor is stored on said memory device indicative of said first compression technique, and said first descriptor is utilized to decompress the portion of said compressed data stream associated with said first data block.

Claim 1 of the #908 patent recites

[a] system comprising:

a memory device; and

a data accelerator configured to compress: (i) a first data block with a first compression technique to provide a first compressed data block; and (ii) a second data block with a second compression technique, different from the first compression technique, to provide a second compressed data block;

wherein the compressed first and second data blocks are stored on the memory device, and the compression and storage occurs faster than the first and second data blocks are able to be stored on the memory device in uncompressed form.

Claim 9 of the #458 patent recites

[a] method for accelerating data storage comprising:

analyzing a first data block to determine a parameter of the first data block;

applying a first encoder associated with the determined parameter of the first data block to create a first encoded, data block wherein the first encoder utilizes a lossless dictionary compression technique;

analyzing a second data block to determine a parameter of the second data block;

applying a second encoder associated with the determined parameter of the second data block to create a second encoded data block, wherein the second encoder utilizes a lossless compression technique different than the lossless dictionary compression technique; and

storing the first and second encoded data blocks on a memory device, wherein encoding and storage of the first encoded data block occur faster than the first data block is able to be stored on the memory device in unencoded form.

Claim 14 of the #203 patent recites

[a] system for decompressing, one or more compressed data blocks included in one or more data packets using a data decompression engine, the one or more data packets being transmitted in sequence from a source that is internal or external to the data decompression engine, wherein a data packet from among the one or more data packets comprises a header containing control information followed by one or more compressed data blocks of the data packet the system comprising:

a data decompression processor configured to analyze the data packet to identify one or more recognizable data tokens associated with the data packet, the one or more recognizable data identifying a selected encoder used to compress one or more data blocks to provide the one or more compressed data blocks, the encoder being selected based on content of the one or more data blocks on which a compression algorithm was applied;

one or more decompression decoders configured to decompress a compressed data block from among the one or more compressed data blocks associated with the data packet based on the one or more recognizable data tokens; wherein:

the one or more decompression decoders are further configured to decompress the compressed data block utilizing content dependent data decompression to provide a first decompressed data block when the one or more recognizable data tokens indicate that the data block was encoded utilizing content dependent data compression; and

the one or more decompression decoders are further configured to decompress the compressed data block utilizing content independent data decompression to provide a second decompressed data block when the one or more recognizable data tokens indicate that the data block was encoded utilizing content independent data compression; and

an output interface, coupled to the data decompression engine, configured to output a decompressed data packet including the first or the second decompressed data block.

Claim 18 of the #825 recites

[a] method comprising:

associating at least one encoder to each one of a plurality of

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