Solaia Technology LLC v. Arvinmeritor, Inc., No. 02C4704.

• Decision Date: 28 March 2005
• Docket Number: No. 02C4704.
• Citation: 361 F.Supp.2d 797
• Parties: SOLAIA TECHNOLOGY LLC, Plaintiff, v. ARVINMERITOR, INC., Defendant, v. Rockwell Automation Inc., Third-Party Defendant-Cross-Claim Plaintiff, v. Solaia Technology LLC, Cross-Claim Defendant-Counterclaim-Plaintiff, v. Rockwell Automation Inc., Counterclaim-Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

361 F.Supp.2d 797

SOLAIA TECHNOLOGY LLC, Plaintiff, v. ARVINMERITOR, INC., Defendant, v. Rockwell Automation Inc., Third-Party Defendant-Cross-Claim Plaintiff, v. Solaia Technology LLC, Cross-Claim Defendant-Counterclaim-Plaintiff, v. Rockwell Automation Inc., Counterclaim-Defendant.

No. 02C4704.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

March 28, 2005.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Raymond P. Niro, Christopher J. Lee, Patrick Francis Solon, Richard Burns Megley, Jr., Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro, Ltd., Chicago, IL, Thomas L. Stoll, Fish & Neave, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff.

V. Bryan Medlock, Jr., James A. Jorgensen, Sidley & Austin, Dallas, TX, Anthony Nimmo, Richard Allen Schnurr, Ice Miller, Constantine L. Trela, Hugh Allen Abrams, Thomas David Rein, Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP, Michael Francis Harte, Latham & Watkins LLP, Michael K. Lindsey, Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, Todd Lawrence McLawhorn, Howrey Simon Arnold & White, LLP, Chicago, IL, Danielle R. Oddo, Jennifer Lee Dzwonczyk, Joseph P. Lavelle, Vivian Kuo, Howrey, Simon, Arnold & White, LLP, Washington, DC, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

FILIP, District Judge.

Defendant ArvinMeritor, Inc. ("ArvinMeritor") moves for summary judgment on its non-infringement claim against plaintiff Solaia Technology LLC ("Solaia"). (D.E. 569.)¹ ArvinMeritor also has moved to strike certain portions of the declaration of Solaia's purported expert witness, Walter Nuschke, offered by Solaia in response to ArvinMeritor's motion as to non-infringement. (D.E. 629.) For the reasons stated below, the Court grants ArvinMeritor's motion.

BACKGROUND

I. '318 Patent

Solaia is the assignee of United States Patent No. 5,038,318 ("the '318 patent"). (D.E. 575 ("Local Rule 56.1(a)(3) Statement of Facts by ArvinMeritor In Support of ArvinMeritor's Motion for Summary Judgment of Non-Infringement") ("ArvinMeritor's SF") ¶ 1.) The patent, titled "Device for Communicating Real Time Data Between a Programmable Logic Controller and a Program Operating In a Central Controller," discloses a system of programmable logic controllers² that "direct[s] automatic operation of such as machine tools, and process equipment to manufacture goods," and that "furnish [es] true real-time control of such programmable logic controllers (PLCs) through a general purpose spreadsheet program operating in a personal computer." ('318 patent, col. 1, lines 9-16.) The patentee acknowledged that prior to the invention, PLCs had been linked together in networks to coordinate the operation of a entire manufacturing system or processing plant. (Id., col. 1, line 67-col. 2, line 1.) In these previous systems, however, any manufacturing changes desired by the operator of the manufacturing equipment had to be implemented by reprogramming the individual PLC. (Id., col. 2, lines 30-39.) "Developing customized programs that directly enabled an operator at a personal computer to supervise and actually control the automatic operation of the PLCs quickly becomes expensive due to the large amount of highly skilled labor." (Id., col. 2, lines 40-44.) In the programs then available to provide this kind of "real time" exchange of information, a user would provide a circuit card interface between his process or instrument and the personal computer used to supervise it. (Id., col. 2, lines 64-66.) The user would then write a "device driver program for the personal computer that facilitates the operating system program to communicate with the circuit card interface." (Id., col. 2, line 66 — col. 3, line 1.) The user would then install a "commercially available information acquisition program to transfer desired information between the operating system program and popular and commercially available spreadsheet, data base and analysis programs," which would enable a user to control the manufacturing process from the spreadsheet, data base or analysis program. (Id., col. 3, lines 1-8.)

The patent discloses a program "that operates through a general purpose spreadsheet program to effect information transfers to and from the addressable registers of a PLC and assigned cells of a displayed spreadsheet directly from the spreadsheet program without transfers through the operating system program or a specially written device driver program." ('318 patent, col. 3, lines 35-42.) The disclosed systems includes a network of PLCs that can receive and transmit messages to monitor and control the operation of the machine tool or processing station; a personal computer, including an interface card; a general purpose spreadsheet program; and an "add-in" program that adds communication functions to the spreadsheet program. (Id., col. 3, lines 20-68.) This add-in program allows a spreadsheet program to move data directly to and from the interface card in the computer (id., col. 5, lines 1-4), whereas such program normally only would be able to effect movement of information between files of data included in the memory and the cells of the spreadsheet (id., col. 4, lines 61-64).

Solaia sued ArvinMeritor and numerous other defendants, alleging that their manufacturing systems infringe the '318 patent. Two claims are at issue in this case. Claim 11 recites, in pertinent part:

11. A system for operating equipment by an operator, the system comprising:

A. a plurality of programmable logic controllers coupled to the equipment, said programmable logic controllers each transmitting messages on a network indicating the condition of said equipment;

B. a computer having operably interconnected visual display, keyboard, memory, and central processor ...

C. interface means electrically connected between said computer and said network for receiving messages from each of said programmable logic controllers ...

D. spreadsheet instruction means contained in said memory for effecting a general purpose spreadsheet program in said computer, said spreadsheet instruction means providing cells into which said operator can insert information and menu commands selectable by said operator, said spreadsheet means normally only being able to effect movement of information between files of data contained in said memory and said cells; and

E. add-in instruction means contained in said memory for presenting add-in menu commands and interrupt selected instructions operating through said spreadsheet instruction means for said interrupt selected instructions to move sequentially received messages from said message registers to respective assigned address locations in said memory upon occurrence of each interrupt signal, and for said add-in menu commands to move said messages from said assigned address locations in said memory to respective assigned cells in said spreadsheet instruction means so that messages from said programmable logic controllers indicating the condition of said equipment can be saved and moved directly to said cells.

('318 patent, col. 16, line 44-col. 17, line 22 (emphases added).) Claim 12 recites, in pertinent part:

12. A device for transmitting and receiving electrical signals forming messages to and from respective addressable registers located in respective addressable programmable logic controllers that are connected together over a communications network, said device comprising:

A. process means connected to said communications network for moving said electrical signals forming messages to and from respective registers located in said processor means...

B. spreadsheet means contained in said processor means, said spreadsheet means presenting a spreadsheet of cells into which information can be inserted to facilitate executing actions through said spreadsheet means, said spreadsheet means being capable of accessing said registers in said processor means through said actions;

C. add-in program means contained in said processor means for inserting in at least one cell information including the address of a particular register in a particular programmable logic controller to which a message is to be sent and indicating the content of said message; and

D. add-in program means contained in said processor means for executing an action in said spreadsheet means to cause said spreadsheet means to transmit said message from said cell....

(Id., col. 17, lines 23-56 (emphases added).)

II. ArvinMeritor's Accused Systems³

ArvinMeritor uses three systems in its manufacturing plants that Solaia alleges infringe the '318 patent. Two of these systems, the "Flex" and "PST" assembly lines ("Flex/PST"), use essentially identical automation equipment, and the parties have addressed them together for the purposes of this lawsuit. The third system is the "Rabofsky System," apparently denominated for the German vendor that supplied the system to ArvinMeritor.

A. Flex/PST Systems

The Flex/PST systems are used in the production and testing of gas springs⁴ in ArvinMeritor's plant in Marion, South Carolina. (ArvinMeritor's SF ¶ 16.) These systems use a computer program running on a personal computer to allow an operator to load a "recipe" for a particular part into PLCs connected via a network that, in turn, configure equipment used to assemble or test the springs. (Id. ¶¶ 18-20, 25, 26.) The personal computer runs a Visual Basic ("VB") program and a separate communication program called RSLinx (apparently licensed to ArvinMeritor by Rockwell). (Id. ¶ 18.) The personal computers used in the Flex/PST systems have a virtual keyboard that allows a user to enter commands and instructions, as well as a visual display. (Id. ¶ 22.) The personal computers in each system use a Rockwell 1784-KTXD network interface card. (Id. ¶ 23.) The personal computers run the Windows 2000 operating system. (Id. ¶ 27; Solaia's Resp. ¶ 27.)

To use the Flex/PST system, an operator enters a part number in the VB program to identify the part to be manufactured on the line. (ArvinMeritor's SF ¶ 25.) The VB program will then retrieve and display the...