STARK, U.S. District Judge:
Presently before the Court are Defendants' motions to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Defendants argue that this Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the present actions because Plaintiff lacks standing to sue on its own. Defendants assert two primary grounds for dismissal: first, that Plaintiff was not transferred all substantial rights in the patents-in-suit and, second, that the assignment of those rights to Plaintiff is void as champertous.
The Court concludes that Plaintiff does not have standing because it lacks all substantial rights in the patents-in-suit. Thus, the Court will grant Defendants' motion to dismiss. The Court will deny as moot Defendants' motion to dismiss on the basis that the purported assignment is void as champertous.
Clouding IP, LLC ("Plaintiff" or "Clouding") entered into a Patent Purchase Agreement ("PPA") and a related Patent Assignment Agreement ("Assignment") with Symantec Corporation ("Symantec") with respect to the patents-in-suit. (Declaration of Dorian Berger ("Berger Decl.")
On May 22, 2012, Clouding filed multiple, related patent infringement actions against several defendants, including Google Inc. ("Google") (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 1) and Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon Web Services LLC (collectively, "Amazon") (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 1). On May 29, 2012, Clouding sued Rackspace Hosting, Inc., Rackspace US, Inc., and Jungle Disk, LLC (collectively, "Rackspace"). (C.A. No. 12-675-LPS) Thereafter, Clouding filed additional actions against CA Technologies Inc. ("CA Technologies") (C.A. No. 13-1338-LPS D.I. 1), Hewlett-Packard Company ("HP") (C.A. No. 13-1341-LPS D.I. 1), and AT & T Inc.
The complaints allege infringement of various patents in different combinations for each Defendant, with a total of 14 patents asserted by Clouding across all related actions.
On September 26, 2013, Amazon filed its Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction based on Plaintiff s Lack of Standing. (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 112) The parties completed briefing on October 25, 2013. (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 113, 129, 130, 138) On September 30, 2013, Google filed its Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Standing, Including on the Basis that the Purported Assignment of Patent Rights to Clouding IP, LLC is
The Court heard argument on all the motions on January 31, 2014. (C.A. No. 12-639-LPS D.I. 156) (hereinafter "Tr.").
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) authorizes dismissal of a complaint for lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter. As the question of subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1) is not unique to patent law, it is governed by the law of the regional Circuit — here the Third Circuit. See Toxgon Corp. v. BNFL, Inc., 312 F.3d 1379, 1380 (Fed.Cir.2002) ("We review a dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction according to regional circuit law, since it is a procedural question not unique to patent law.").
Motions brought under Rule 12(b)(1) may present either a facial or factual challenge to the Court's subject matter jurisdiction. See Gould Elec, Inc. v. United States, 220 F.3d 169, 176 (3d Cir.2000). In reviewing a factual challenge to the Court's subject matter jurisdiction, the Court is not confined to the allegations of the complaint, and the presumption of truthfulness does not attach to those allegations. See Mortensen v. First Fed. Say. & Loan Ass'n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977). Instead, the Court may consider evidence outside the pleadings, including affidavits, depositions, and testimony, to resolve any factual issues bearing on jurisdiction. See Gotha v. United States, 115 F.3d 176, 179 (3d Cir.1997). Once the Court's subject matter jurisdiction is challenged, the plaintiff bears the burden of proving jurisdiction exists. See Mortensen, 549 F.2d at 891.
"Standing must be present at the time the suit is brought." Sicom Sys., Ltd. v. Agilent Techs., Inc., 427 F.3d 971, 975-76 (Fed.Cir.2005). If a plaintiff lacks standing at that time, the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction and the case must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1). See generally Ballentine v. United States, 486 F.3d 806, 810 (3d Cir.2007). The party "bringing the action bears the burden of establishing that it has standing." Sicom, 427 F.3d at 976.
Standing "is comprised of both constitutional and prudential components." Oxford Assocs. v. Sys. Auth., 271 F.3d 140, 145 (3d Cir.2001). The requirement of constitutional standing derives from the Article III "case" or "controversy" requirement, compelling "a plaintiff to demonstrate that he or she suffered [i] `injury in fact,' that [ii] the injury is `fairly traceable' to the actions of the defendant, and that [iii] the injury will likely be redressed by a favorable decision." Id. "[T]he touchstone of constitutional standing in a patent infringement suit is whether a party can establish that it has an exclusionary right in a patent that, if violated by another, would cause the party holding the exclusionary right to suffer legal injury." WiAV Solutions LLC v. Motorola, Inc.,
A patent is "a bundle of rights which may be divided and assigned, or retained in whole or part." Vaupel Textilmaschinen KG v. Meccanica Euro Italia SPA, 944 F.2d 870, 875 (Fed.Cir.1991); see also 35 U.S.C. § 261 ("[P]atents, or any interest therein, shall be assignable in law by an instrument in writing."). While all such rights are initially held by the named inventor(s), they may be licensed or assigned to multiple parties, and when "a sufficiently large portion of this bundle of rights is held by one individual, we refer to that individual as the owner of the patent, and that individual is permitted to sue for infringement in his own name." Alfred E. Mann Found. For Scientific Research v. Cochlear Corp., 604 F.3d 1354, 1360 (Fed. Cir.2010).
Accordingly, plaintiffs who "hold all legal rights to the patent as the patentee or assignee of
Additionally, if a patentee transfers "
Finally, exclusive licensees — those parties who hold "
"By contrast, a bare licensee, i.e., a party with
The Court finds Clouding has constitutional standing.
Clouding contends that it has standing to sue for infringement on the basis that it holds "legal title" to the patents-in-suit pursuant to the Agreement with Symantec. (C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 129 at 6) Clouding presupposes that it has "legal title" based on the label given to the Agreement and certain provisions therein. Clouding misapprehends the controlling inquiry.
"The title of the agreement at issue" — whether it is termed a "license" rather than an "assignment" — "is not determinative of the nature of the rights transferred under the agreement; actual consideration of the rights transferred is the linchpin of such a determination." Intellectual Prop. Dev., 248 F.3d at 1344; see also Waterman v. Mackenzie, 138 U.S. 252, 256, 11 S.Ct. 334, 34 L.Ed. 923 (1891) ("Whether a transfer of a particular right or interest under a patent is an assignment or a license does not depend upon the name by which it calls itself, but upon the legal effect of its provisions.") (emphasis omitted). Therefore, because "[e]ach license and assignment is unique," Sicom, 427 F.3d at 976, to determine "whether a provision in an agreement constitutes an assignment or a license, one must [i] ascertain the intention of the parties and [ii] examine the substance of what was granted." Vaupel, 944 F.2d at 874.
"Construction of patent assignment agreements is a matter of state contract
Giving the ordinary and usual meaning to the terms of the Agreement, the Court concludes that the intent of the parties was to transfer title to the patentsin-suit, but only "subject to" the conditions of the Agreement. (PPA § 4.1) Clouding relies on PPA § 1.2, part of the Agreement's "Background," as evidence of Symantec's intent to convey formal legal title to Clouding. But that provision states, "Seller wishes to sell to Purchaser all rights, title, and interest in the patents and applications ... while retaining the License (as defined below) as set forth in more detail below." (PPA § 1.2; see also Mars, 527 F.3d at 1370 ("A transfer of the `entire interest' of a patentee in a patent is well known to mean a full assignment of the patent — i.e., transfer of title.")) At best, a reasonable person in the position of the parties would have understood that Symantec intended to convey all "rights, title, and interest,"
"A conveyance of legal title by the patentee can be made only of [i] the entire patent, [ii] an undivided part or share of the entire patent, or [iii] all rights under the patent in a specified geographical region of the United States." Rite-Hite Corp. v. Kelley Co., Inc., 56 F.3d 1538, 1551 (Fed.Cir.1995) (en banc) (citing Waterman, 138 U.S. at 255, 11 S.Ct. 334). "A transfer of any of these is an assignment and vests the assignee with title in the patent," while a "transfer of less than one of these three interests is a license, not an assignment of legal title, and it gives the licensee no right to sue for infringement at law in the licensee's own
While Clouding once again points to the recital in PPA § 1.2, Clouding neglects the core inquiry. The Court must look to the provision of the contract that is legally operative in effectuating the transfer and determine what was actually granted. See, e.g., Speedplay, Inc. v. Bebop, Inc., 211 F.3d 1245, 1253 (Fed.Cir. 2000) (holding party had standing based on language governing transfer of all "right, title and interest"). When Clouding cites to the actual transfer provision in § 4.1 of the Agreement, it supports its contention that "all rights, title, and interest" were conveyed only by quoting a snippet without the entire context. (See C.A. No. 12-641-LPS D.I. 129 at 6) In full, PPA § 4.1. actually states:
(Emphasis added)
The transfer of "all rights, title, and interest" in the patents identified in the Agreement was made "subject to the terms of this Agreement including the License set forth in Section 4.5."
Clouding contends that even if it was not transferred formal legal title, it possesses all substantial rights sufficient to create standing. "Even if the patentee does not transfer formal legal title, the patentee may effect a transfer of ownership for standing purposes if it conveys all substantial rights in the patent to the transferee." Propat, 473 F.3d at 1189. In such a circumstance, the "transferee is treated as the patentee and has standing to sue in its own name." Id. Accordingly, the Court must "look to the agreement between the parties and analyze the respective rights allocated to each party under that agreement." Id.; see also Intellectual Prop. Dev., 248 F.3d at 1344 ("[W]e must assess the agreement at issue in this case, weighing the rights in the ... patent transferred to [the exclusive licensee] against those retained by [licensor], to determine whether [licensor] assigned all substantial rights.").
While the Federal Circuit has "never purported to establish a complete list of the rights whose holders must be examined to determine whether a licensor has transferred away sufficient rights to render an exclusive licensee the owner of a patent," it has listed "at least some of the rights that should be examined," including:
Alfred E. Mann, 604 F.3d at 1360-61 (emphasis added).
Also helpful to the Court's analysis is the fact that the Agreement here closely resembles the conveyance in Abbott Labs. v. Diamedix Corp., 47 F.3d 1128 (Fed.Cir. 1995). In Abbott, the Federal Circuit concluded that the licensor, Diamedix, had not transferred "all substantial rights" when it retained "[i] a limited right to make, use, and sell products embodying the patented inventions, [ii] a right to bring suit on the patents if Abbott declined to do so, and [iii] the right to prevent Abbott from assigning its rights under the license to any party other than a successor in business." Id. at 1132. As the Court explained in Abbott, "Those retained rights are the sort that are commonly held sufficient to make a patent owner who grants an exclusive license a necessary party to an infringement action brought by the licensee." Id.
Applying the same type of analysis to the Agreement between Clouding and Symantec yields a conclusion that Symantec retained substantial rights in the patents-in-suit, such that the Agreement did not transfer all substantial rights to Clouding.
"[T]ransfer of the exclusive right to make, use, and sell products or services under the patent is vitally important to an assignment." Alfred E. Mann, 604 F.3d at 1360; see also Prima Tek II, 222 F.3d at 1379 ("In evaluating whether a particular license agreement transfers all substantial rights in a patent to the licensee, we pay particular attention to whether the agreement conveys
In Abbott, where the Federal Circuit held that Abbott was a licensee, not an assignee, and the licensor of the patents had to be joined, the Court focused on the fact that the licensor retained (i) "the right to make and use, for its own benefit, products embodying the inventions claimed in the patents;" (ii) "the right to sell such products to end users, to parties with whom Diamedix had pre-existing contracts, and to pre-existing licensees;" and (iii) "prior licenses" granted by the licensor. 47 F.3d at 1132. Under the Agreement at issue here, Symantec similarly retained (i) the right for itself to make, use, sell, offer to sell, and import the claimed inventions in all the patents, pursuant to PPA § 4.5(a); (ii) the right to sublicense its customers, pursuant to PPA § 4.5(b); and (iii) the right to prevent Clouding from interfering with the rights
Like the agreement in Abbott, Clouding's Agreement retains for Symantec the right to bring suit. When "the licensor retains a right to sue accused infringers, that right often precludes a finding that all substantial rights were transferred to the licensee." Alfred E. Mann, 604 F.3d at 1361. Indeed, "the nature and scope of the licensor's retained right to sue accused infringers is
In Abbott, 47 F.3d at 1132, the agreement provided that "if Diamedix asks Abbott to bring suit against an alleged infringer and Abbott declines to do so, Diamedix has the right to prosecute its own infringement action." The Federal Circuit found that "although Abbott has the option to initiate suit for infringement, it does not enjoy the right to indulge infringements, which normally accompanies a complete conveyance of the right to sue." Id. Similarly, here, pursuant to PPA § 5.5, Symantec retains the right to sue (as a counter-plaintiff, i.e., when Symantec itself is sued). Symantec can instruct Clouding to sue certain third parties identified by Symantec — namely, third parties that have asserted claims against Symantec. (See PPA § 5.5) If Clouding refuses, Symantec has the right to "[redacted]" the patent for "[redacted]" in order to pursue the counterclaim or counter-suit. Id.
Moreover, PPA § 5.5 implicates the very concerns animating the prudential standing requirement: preventing multiple litigations against the same accused infringers. See Morrow, 499 F.3d at 1340. If any of the Defendants in the present actions were to initiate suit against Symantec, Symantec could command Clouding to assert the patents against such a Defendant,
"Just as the right to alienate personal property is an essential indicia of ownership, the right to further assign patent rights is implicit in any true assignment." Sicom, 427 F.3d at 979; see also id. ("As the district court found, the restriction on Sicom's right to assign' was a `fatal reservation of rights by Canada.'"); Propat, 473 F.3d at 1191 ("The right to dispose of an asset is an important incident of ownership, and ... a restriction on that right is a strong indicator that the agreement does not grant ... all substantial rights under the patent."); Intellectual Prop. Dev., 248 F.3d at 1345 ("[L]imits on the assignment of rights are a factor weighing in favor of finding a transfer of fewer than all substantial rights."). In Abbott, 47 F.3d at 1132, the licensor retained the "right to prevent Abbott from assigning its rights under the license to any party other than a successor in business."
The Agreement before the Court presents a closer case. While Symantec lacks a blanket veto,
The Symantec-Clouding Agreement also limits Clouding's right to license. "A licensee's right to sub-license is an important consideration in evaluating whether a license agreement transfers all substantial rights." Prima Tek II, 222 F.3d at 1380; see also Sicom, 427 F.3d at 979 (finding licensee lacked "all substantial rights" in part because licensor retained the right to "grant contracts and sub-contracts to develop the [ ] patent further; offer sublicenses under any improvements or corrections that [licensee] develops; veto any sublicense; and levy additional royalties or other consideration").
The right of the licensor to "receive a portion of the recovery in infringement suits" is also pertinent to the "all substantial rights" inquiry. See Alfred E. Mann, 604 F.3d at 1360-61. Under the Agreement, Symantec receives [redacted], while Clouding receives the remainder. (See PPA § 3.2(b)) In addition, courts look at the licensor's obligation "to continue paying patent maintenance fees" and "the nature of license provisions regarding the reversion of rights to the licensor following breaches of the license agreement." Alfred E. Mann, 604 F.3d at 1360-61. Pursuant to the Agreement, Clouding cannot refuse to pay maintenance fees when due and allow the patent to lapse without giving Symantec the opportunity to pay such fees; if Clouding does not cure within 30 days of written notice, then Symantec can exercise a reversionary right to reacquire the patents. (PPA § 5.4(a)(B)(iv)) Similarly, if Clouding "[redacted]," unless Clouding has made a "[redacted]" to not pursue a patent, Symantec may again exercise such a reversionary right. (Id.)
Based on a careful review of the provisions of the Symantec-Clouding Agreement, the Court finds that Clouding was not transferred formal legal title to Symantec's patents such that Clouding now qualifies as the "patentee." Furthermore, while the Symantec-Clouding Agreement was drafted to convey some substantial rights to Clouding, Symantec retained enough of the bundle of rights (for each patent) that, when the Agreement is viewed as a whole, Clouding does not possess "all substantial rights." As a result, Clouding's rights in the patents-in-suit do not amount to an ownership interest such that it can now be considered the "effective patentee." Clouding, thus, lacks prudential standing to bring suit on its own without joining Symantec.
Due to this lack of standing, the Court finds it lacks subject matter jurisdiction and will grant Defendants' motions to dismiss for lack of standing. Appropriate orders will be entered in each of these related cases.