Bsg Tech LLC v. Buyseasons, Inc.
Opinion
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BSG Tech LLC sued BuySeasons, Inc. for infringement of several patents related to systems and methods for indexing information stored in wide access databases. BuySeasons sought dismissal of the suit based on its contention that none of the asserted patent claims were patent-eligible under
I
All three of BSG Tech's asserted patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,035,294, 6,243,699, and 6,195,652, have substantially overlapping specifications and are directed to a "self-evolving generic index" for organizing information stored in a database. '294 patent col. 3 ll. 24-25. This indexing software organizes information about various items using classifications, parameters, and values.
Prior art indices also organized information using classifications, parameters, and values. According to the patents' specifications, prior "specialty indices" organized information about specific types of products or services. For example, a real estate specialty index could use property classifications like commercial or residential; organize properties using parameters like location or square footage; and store data corresponding to the values of those parameters.
BSG Tech alleges that these prior art indices suffered from several shortcomings. Specialty indices enabled refined searching through use of parameter combinations, but the parameters used to describe one item were often inapplicable to other items.
The patents teach that the "self-evolving" aspect of the claimed invention addresses these shortcomings by enabling users to "add new parameters for use in describing items."
The claims at issue are directed toward systems and methods of indexing that combine some or all of these features. In the Eastern District of Texas, BSG Tech sued BuySeasons for infringement of the '699, '294, and '652 patents. BSG Tech asserted four claims from the '699 patent. Claim 1 recites:
A method of indexing and retrieving data being posted by a plurality of users to a wide area network, comprising:
providing the users with a mechanism for posting the data as parametized items;
providing the users with listings of previously used parameters and previously used values for use in posting the data;
providing the users with summary comparison usage information corresponding to the previously used parameters and values for use in posting the data; and
providing subsequent users with the listings of previously used parameters and values, and corresponding summary comparison usage information for use in searching the network for an item of interest.
'699 patent col. 10 l. 64-col. 11 l. 10. Claims 2, 3, and 4 depend from claim 1 and further require, respectively, the user to add a new parameter, the user to add a new value, and providing the user with a classification system for use in posting data.
BSG Tech also asserted claims 10 and 11 of the '294 patent. Claim 10 recites:
A method of indexing an item on a database, comprising:
providing the database with a structure having a plurality of item classifications, parameters, and values, wherein individual parameters are independently related to individual item classifications, and individual values are independently related to individual parameters;
guiding the user in selecting a specific item classification for the item from the plurality of item classifications;
storing the item on the database as a plurality of user-selected item classification/parameter value combinations; and
guiding the user in selecting at least one of (a) the parameters of the combinations by displaying relative historical usage information for a plurality of parameters previously used by other users, and (b) the values of the combinations by displaying relative historical usage information for a plurality of values previously used by other users.
'294 patent col. 11 ll. 38-56. Claim 11 depends from claim 10 and further requires
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guiding the user by displaying relative historical usage information about previously used parameters and values with respect to a specific item classification.
Last, BSG Tech asserted claim 9 of the '652 patent. Although similar to the other asserted claims, claim 9 covers a database system and recites a further limitation requiring that "end users can add additional parameters without modifying the predefined structure of the database." '652 patent col. 18 ll. 33-45.
BuySeasons moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim, arguing that all the asserted claims are drawn to patent-ineligible subject matter. After converting BuySeasons's motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment and accepting BSG Tech's proposed claim constructions for purposes of the motion, the district court granted BuySeasons's motion. The district court concluded that the asserted claims "are directed to the abstract idea of considering historical usage information while inputting data" and lack an inventive concept sufficient to transform them into patent-eligible subject matter. J.A. 6.
BSG Tech appeals. We have jurisdiction under
II
We review a grant of summary judgment under the law of the regional circuit.
Enfish, LLC v. Microsoft Corp.
,
The only issue in this appeal is whether the asserted claims are patent eligible under
Section 101 provides that a patent may be obtained for "any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof." This provision contains an implicit exception that "[l]aws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable."
Ass'n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.
,
A
The Supreme Court has held that "fundamental ... practice[s] long prevalent in our system of commerce" are abstract ideas.
Alice
,
*1286
Enfish
,
We agree with the district court that the asserted claims are directed to the abstract idea of considering historical usage information while inputting data. This is clearest for the four asserted claims of the '699 patent. Claim 1 of the '699 patent recites a method of indexing wherein a user adds data to a database using "a mechanism for posting the data as parametized items" after receiving "summary comparison usage information" about parameters and values selected by prior users. '699 patent col. 10 l. 64-col. 11 l. 10. BSG Tech does not purport to have invented database structures that allow database users to input item data as a series of parameters and values. The '699 specification makes clear that such databases predate the claimed invention.
BSG Tech makes three arguments for why the '699 patent claims are not directed to this abstract idea, none of which are persuasive. First, BSG Tech argues that the '699 patent claims require a specific database structure. The "mechanism for posting the data as parametized items" limitation requires a database that allows users to input data and can store user-input data as classifications, parameters, and values. Some databases do not allow user input or cannot store information in this way. See '699 patent col. 1 ll. 22-34. It follows, BSG Tech argues, that the claims cannot be directed to abstract ideas because their limitations are not satisfied by a generic computer.
We have consistently held, however, that claims are not saved from abstraction merely because they recite components more specific than a generic computer.
See
TLI Commc'ns
,
Second, BSG Tech argues that the '699 patent claims are not directed to an abstract idea because they require users to specifically consider "summary comparison usage information" rather than any type of historical usage information. This argument is unpersuasive. The '699 patent uses the term "summary comparison usage information" very broadly. Its specification states " 'usage' is employed herein in its broadest possible sense to include information relating to occurrence, absolute or relative frequency, or any other data which indicates the extent of past usage with respect to the various choices."
Moreover, regardless of how narrow "summary comparison usage information" may be relative to the category of "historical usage information," this does not affect whether the claims are directed to an abstract idea at
Alice
's step one. In BSG Tech's view, a claim is not directed to an abstract idea so long as it recites limitations that render it narrower than that abstract idea. While "we must be careful to avoid oversimplifying the claims" in determining whether they are directed to an abstract idea,
TLI Commc'ns
,
Third, BSG Tech insists that its claims focus on a non-abstract improvement in database functionality. It argues that the claimed invention improves the quality of information added to the database and the organization of information in the database. These improvements result from guiding users' selection of classifications, parameters, and values through displays of
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summary comparison usage information. The historical information "encourages users to be consistent in selecting parameters for both entering and searching data." '699 patent col. 3 ll. 43-45. As a result, the claimed invention "allows users to quickly and efficiently access hundreds of thousands or even millions of records, and still find only those few records that are relevant."
These benefits, however, are not improvements to database functionality. Instead, they are benefits that flow from performing an abstract idea in conjunction with a well-known database structure. A review of our prior cases identifying claims directed to non-abstract improvements in computer functionality makes this clear. In
Enfish
, we determined that claims related to a database structure were not abstract because their focus included a new "self-referential table [that] functions differently than conventional database structures."
Here, the focus of BSG Tech's claims is unrelated to how databases function. Under the claimed methods, information inputted by users into a database is stored and organized in the same manner as information inputted into conventional databases capable of indexing data as classifications, parameters, and values. The claims do not recite any improvement to the way in which such databases store or organize information analogous to the self-referential table in
Enfish
or the adaptable memory caches in
Visual Memory
. While the presentation of summary comparison usage information to users improves the quality of the information added to the database, an improvement to the information stored by a database is not equivalent to an improvement in the database's functionality. BSG Tech's claimed invention results in better user input, but the database serves in its "ordinary capacity" of storing the resulting information.
Enfish
,
The foregoing analysis applies with equal force to claims 10 and 11 of the '294 patent. These claims also recite methods of indexing items in a database. For purposes of
Alice
step one, the '294 patent claims' recitation of a "database with a structure having a plurality of item classifications, parameters, and values" that can store "user-selected item classification/parameter value combinations," '294 patent col. 11 ll. 40-50, is equivalent to the '699 patent claims' recitation of "a mechanism for posting the data as parametized items." This conventional database structure similarly serves as a generic environment in which an abstract idea is carried out.
See
TLI Commc'ns
,
Finally, BSG Tech makes several arguments that are specific to claim 9 of the '652 patent. Unlike the method claims of the '699 and '294 patents, claim 9 of the '652 patent claims a database system. Nonetheless, it is similarly directed to the same abstract idea of considering historical usage information while inputting data. Like the '294 patent claims, it requires a database structure that is capable of storing information about items as combinations of classifications, parameters, and values. '652 patent col. 18 ll. 33-45. And like the '699 patent claims, it requires guiding users by displaying "summary comparison usage information."
BSG Tech argues that this latter limitation provides an independent reason that claim 9 of the '652 patent is not directed to an abstract idea. According to BSG Tech, this limitation further differentiates the claimed invention from generic databases because it recites a database that is not structurally modified when users add new parameters. As discussed previously, however, merely reciting components more specific than a generic computer does not preclude a claim from being directed to an abstract idea.
See
TLI Commc'ns
,
To the extent that BSG Tech argues that this limitation constitutes an improvement in computer functionality similar to the self-referential table in Enfish , there is no support for such an assertion. The '652 patent specification says nothing about how to construct a database structure that is not modified by the addition of new parameters. This suggests that this feature of the claimed system is not claim 9's focus. Relatedly, nothing in the specification suggests that conventional databases required structural modifications to add new parameters, or explains how maintaining the same structure would improve database functionality relative to structures that change with the addition of new parameters.
Further, BSG Tech argues that claim 9 covers an improved database system with higher quality information and better information organization. But BSG Tech alleges that the '699 and '294 patent claims achieve the same benefits. The '699 and '294 patent claims do not require that additional parameters can be added to a database without modifying its structure. Accordingly, claim 9's benefits are similarly attributable to users considering historical usage information while inputting data. In short, we conclude that claim 9's limitation that users can add additional parameters without modifying the predefined structure of the database does not constitute an improvement in database functionality.
B
At step two, if claims are directed to a patent-ineligible concept, "we consider the elements of each claim both individually and 'as an ordered combination' to determine whether the additional elements 'transform the nature of the claim' into a patent-eligible application."
Alice
,
Whether a combination of claim limitations supplies an inventive concept that renders a claim "significantly more" than an abstract idea to which it is directed is a question of law. Underlying factual determinations may inform this legal determination.
See
Berkheimer v. HP Inc.
,
This case is different. BSG Tech points to the '699, '294, and '652 patent specifications to argue that the asserted claims recite unconventional features that provide benefits over conventional prior art databases. But the relevant inquiry is not whether the claimed invention as a whole is unconventional or non-routine. At step two, we "search for an 'inventive concept' ... that is 'sufficient to ensure that the patent in practice amounts to significantly more than a patent upon the [ineligible concept] itself.' "
Alice
,
It has been clear since
Alice
that a claimed invention's use of the ineligible concept to which it is directed cannot supply the inventive concept that renders the invention "significantly more" than that ineligible concept. In
Alice
, the Supreme Court held that claims directed to a computer-implemented scheme for mitigating settlement risks claimed a patent-ineligible abstract idea.
Our precedent has consistently employed this same approach. If a claim's only "inventive concept" is the application of an abstract idea using conventional and well-understood techniques, the claim has not been transformed into a patent-eligible
*1291
application of an abstract idea.
See, e.g.,
Berkheimer
,
Here, the only alleged unconventional feature of BSG Tech's claims is the requirement that users are guided by summary comparison usage information or relative historical usage information. But this simply restates what we have already determined is an abstract idea. At
Alice
step two, it is irrelevant whether considering historical usage information while inputting data may have been non-routine or unconventional as a factual matter. As a matter of law, narrowing or reformulating an abstract idea does not add "significantly more" to it.
See
SAP Am., Inc. v. InvestPic
, LLC, No. 2017-2081, slip op. at 14,
BSG Tech's remaining argument at step two is that the asserted claims supply an inventive concept because they require a specific database structure that does not preempt consideration of historical usage information while inputting data into other types of databases. This argument misunderstands the step two inquiry. While preemption concerns are "the basis for the judicial exceptions to patentability ..., the absence of complete preemption does not demonstrate patent eligibility."
Ariosa
,
III
Based on the foregoing, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment that all asserted claims on appeal are ineligible under § 101.
AFFIRMED
For this reason, whether dependent claims 2-4 of the '699 patent are directed to an abstract idea at step one depends upon whether independent claim 1 is directed to an abstract idea. The dependent claims' additional limitations require the user to add certain types of information to the database or require providing the user with a classification system to post data. '699 patent col. 11 l. 11-col. 12 l. 4. Although these claims cover a narrower range of data input than claim 1, the claims' focus remains on the abstract idea of considering historical usage information while inputting data.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BSG TECH LLC, Plaintiff-Appellant v. BUYSEASONS, INC., Defendant-Appellee Rakuten Commerce, LLC, Defendant
- Cited By
- 213 cases
- Status
- Published