(January 21, 2015) - The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California has granted a motion for Reed Smith client Box, Inc. in its ongoing defense against plaintiff Open Text over alleged patent infringement claims. The order, issued yesterday, invalidates five patents specifically related to “Groupware.”
In granting Box's Rule 12(C) motion for judgment of invalidity of the Groupware patents, Judge James Donato noted that: “The common specification of the five Groupware patents describes the unremarkable concept of people working together on a project…,” and that, “…this concept existed well before the invention of the Groupware patents.”
Judge Donato further elaborated:
“The problem with the asserted claims is that their core concept is inherently abstract, and their implementation, which consists of standard technology like browsers, servers, and networks, has nothing inventive whatsoever about it. The result is that the asserted claims of the Groupware patents are invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101.”
Luxembourg-based Open Text S.A. originally filed its complaint against Box, Inc. and co-defendant Carahsoft Technology Corporation in the Eastern District of Virginia June 3, 2013, alleging infringement on 12 of its patents, allegedly relating to groupware, file synchronization, and marketing dialogues. In November 2013, the court granted Box's motion to transfer the case to the Northern District of California, which denied Open Text's Motion for Preliminary Injunction April 11, 2014.
Yesterday’s ruling invalidates Open Text's claims of infringement for U.S. Patent Nos. 6,223,177; 6,917,962; 7,287,055; 7,299,258; and 7,320,018.
Box, which is headquartered in Los Altos, California, provides cloud-based file sharing and collaboration services for personal, business, and enterprise customers.
Reed Smith Intellectual Property partner John Bovich, who is based in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, serves as lead counsel for Box. The Reed Smith Box trial team also includes Jonah Mitchell, Scott Baker, James Daire, Doyle Johnson, and Addie Hilgard.
The case is Open Text S.A. v. Box, Inc., et al. (N.D. Cal. 5:2013cv04910).
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