DCT

2:18-cv-00503

Uniloc 2017 LLC v. Google LLC

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I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information

  • Parties & Counsel:
  • Case Identification: 2:18-cv-00503, E.D. Tex., 11/17/2018
  • Venue Allegations: Plaintiff asserts venue is proper in the Eastern District of Texas because Google maintains a "regular and established place of business" in the district. The allegations cite the presence of Google-owned Google Global Cache (GGC) servers within ISP facilities in Tyler, Sherman, and Texarkana, as well as Google Fi wireless services, Google Cloud Interconnect facilities, and authorized device repair centers located within the district.
  • Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s Google Cloud Platform, specifically its load balancing and health check functionalities, infringes a patent related to a failover procedure for server systems.
  • Technical Context: The technology concerns high-availability computing, where systems are designed to detect server failures and automatically reroute traffic to standby servers to prevent service interruptions, a critical function in modern cloud infrastructure.
  • Key Procedural History: The complaint notes that over 135 references were considered during the patent’s examination. It also cites a prior district court finding in Seven Networks, LLC v. Google, LLC to support its argument that Google's GGC servers constitute a physical place of business for venue purposes.

Case Timeline

Date Event
2009-07-09 '489 Patent Priority Date
2015-09-22 '489 Patent Issue Date
2018-11-17 Complaint Filing Date

II. Technology and Patent(s)-in-Suit Analysis

U.S. Patent No. 9,141,489 - "FAILOVER PROCEDURE FOR SERVER SYSTEM"

  • Patent Identification: U.S. Patent No. 9,141,489, "FAILOVER PROCEDURE FOR SERVER SYSTEM", issued September 22, 2015.

The Invention Explained

  • Problem Addressed: The patent seeks to improve upon existing failover systems that rely on simple "heartbeat" signals between primary and backup servers to detect failures, noting a desire for more robust and rapid failure detection to ensure system availability ('489 Patent, col. 1:11-52).
  • The Patented Solution: The invention describes a system where a "routing device" directs traffic to a primary server. The primary server periodically sends a status message containing a unique server "fingerprint"—data generated from stable hardware and software configuration parameters—to the routing device. If the routing device fails to receive a status message with the correct fingerprint within a specified time, it presumes the primary server has failed and automatically reroutes traffic to a secondary, or standby, server ('489 Patent, Abstract; col. 4:32-51).
  • Technical Importance: The use of a verifiable "fingerprint" rather than a simple packet exchange is intended to provide a more secure and reliable method for confirming server identity and operational status, enabling rapid and dependable failover management across a network ('489 Patent, col. 2:53-68).

Key Claims at a Glance

  • The complaint asserts independent claim 1 ('489 Patent, Compl. ¶103).
  • The essential elements of independent claim 1 include:
    • routing traffic from a routing device to a first server;
    • storing in the routing device data representing a fingerprint of the first server;
    • receiving periodically at the routing device a status message from the first server;
    • detecting at the routing device an invalid status message from the first server by absence of the fingerprint in a status message... within a predetermined time period; and
    • routing the traffic from the routing device to a second server in response to detecting the invalid status message.
  • The complaint reserves the right to assert additional claims ('489 Patent, Compl. ¶105).

III. The Accused Instrumentality

Product Identification

  • The complaint identifies the "Accused Infringing Devices" as the Google Cloud Platform ("GCP"), particularly its Google Compute Engine service and the associated load balancing, health check, and failover functionalities (Compl. ¶¶ 83-84).

Functionality and Market Context

  • The complaint describes GCP as an infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) offering that provides virtual machines (VMs) running in Google's data centers (Compl. ¶84). Its load balancing feature is alleged to distribute traffic across multiple VMs and to include a "health check mechanism" that monitors the status of these VMs (Compl. ¶83). When a fault is detected in a primary VM, the system allegedly switches traffic to a healthy alternate VM to ensure service continuity, a process the complaint characterizes as a failover (Compl. ¶¶ 83, 85). A diagram included in the complaint illustrates how a client application's traffic can be directed to either a "Primary instance" or a "Standby instance" via a shared IP address (Compl. p. 33).

IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations

Claim Chart Summary

| Claim Element (from Independent Claim 1) | Alleged Infringing Functionality | Complaint Citation | Patent Citation |
|:---------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| routing traffic from a routing device to a first server | Google's Cloud Load Balancer is alleged to be a "routing device" that directs network traffic to a healthy VM instance, which functions as the "first server" (Compl. ¶¶ 85, 88). | ¶¶85, 88 | col. 9:52-53 |
| storing in the routing device data representing a fingerprint of the first server | The complaint alleges that during health check configuration, an operator can specify an "expected response string," and that this string functions as the claimed "fingerprint" stored by the load balancer (Compl. ¶¶ 91-92). | ¶¶91-92 | col. 9:54-55 |
| receiving periodically at the routing device a status message from the first server | The health checker is alleged to periodically send a probe to a VM, which returns a response. This response is alleged to be the claimed "status message" (Compl. ¶93). | ¶93 | col. 9:56-58 |
| detecting at the routing device an invalid status message from the first server by absence of the fingerprint | GCP allegedly considers a health probe successful only if the returned response string "exactly matches the expected response string." A mismatch or timeout is treated as a failed response, or an "invalid status message" (Compl. ¶¶ 92, 94). | ¶¶92, 94 | col. 9:59-64 |
| routing the traffic from the routing device to a second server in response to detecting the invalid status message | Upon determining a primary instance is unhealthy based on failed health checks, the load balancer allegedly initiates failover and routes traffic to a standby instance or a backup pool, which functions as the "second server" (Compl. ¶¶ 100, 102). A diagram shows traffic being rerouted from a primary to a backup pool when the health status falls below a "Configured Failover Ratio" (Compl. p. 44). | ¶¶100, 102 | col. 10:1-2 |

Identified Points of Contention

  • Scope Questions: A central issue may be whether the term "fingerprint" as described in the patent can be construed to read on the "expected response string" alleged in the complaint. The patent specification describes the "fingerprint" as a unique identifier generated from stable, non-user-configurable system parameters, whereas the complaint alleges infringement via a user-configured ASCII string ('489 Patent, col. 4:32-51; Compl. ¶91).
  • Technical Questions: The complaint identifies Google's "software defined globally distributed load balancing service" as the claimed "routing device" (Compl. ¶87). A potential dispute may arise over whether this distributed software service embodies the "routing device" limitation, which the patent's figures and description could be argued to characterize as a more discrete hardware or software appliance ('489 Patent, Fig. 1).

V. Key Claim Terms for Construction

  • The Term: "fingerprint"

  • Context and Importance: The infringement analysis hinges on this term. Practitioners may focus on this term because the patent's detailed description of a system-generated, unique identifier appears technically distinct from the user-configured "expected response string" in the accused GCP service.

  • Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:

    • Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The claim language itself does not specify how the "fingerprint" must be generated, referring only to "data representing a fingerprint" ('489 Patent, col. 9:54-55). The abstract similarly refers to "data representing a fingerprint" without further limitation ('489 Patent, Abstract).
    • Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The detailed description provides a specific definition, stating a fingerprint is "data characterized by being reliably reproducible... while being virtually irreproducible by any other means" and is generated from "a stable system configuration" ('489 Patent, col. 4:35-42). The specification provides extensive examples of such parameters, including CPU ID, silicone serial numbers, and other hardware attributes ('489 Patent, col. 5:32-col. 6:8), suggesting a meaning more specific than an arbitrary string.

  • The Term: "routing device"

  • Context and Importance: The definition of this term is critical for determining whether Google's distributed, software-defined load balancing service meets the claim limitation.

  • Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:

    • Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The term is not explicitly defined, and parties could argue that any component that directs network traffic according to a set of rules falls within its plain and ordinary meaning.
    • Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The patent figures depict the "routing device" as a discrete "Appliance" box ('489 Patent, Fig. 1, items 114, 116). The specification describes it as a "routing appliance" that "maintains IP addresses for the first and second servers in internal memory" ('489 Patent, col. 3:56-62), language that could support an interpretation of a localized, self-contained hardware or software unit rather than a globally distributed service.

VI. Other Allegations

Indirect Infringement

  • The complaint alleges induced infringement, asserting that Google instructs its customers to perform the claimed steps by providing documentation, user guides, and tutorials on its public-facing websites. The complaint provides a list of ten specific URLs as evidence of these instructions (Compl. ¶105).

Willful Infringement

  • The complaint alleges willfulness based on knowledge obtained from the filing of the lawsuit itself, stating that "Google will have been on notice of the '489 Patent since, at the latest, the service of this complaint" (Compl. ¶107).

VII. Analyst’s Conclusion: Key Questions for the Case

  • A core issue will be one of definitional scope: can the term "fingerprint", which the patent specification describes as a unique identifier derived from stable, intrinsic system characteristics, be construed to cover a user-configured "expected response string" as implemented in the accused Google Cloud Platform health checks?
  • A second central question will be one of technical structure: does Google's "software defined globally distributed load balancing service" constitute the "routing device" as claimed in the patent, or does the patent’s specification and figures limit that term to a more discrete, localized appliance?