Adaptive Avenue Associates Inc v. Barnes & Noble Inc

I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information

• Parties & Counsel:
  • Plaintiff: Adaptive Avenue Associates, Inc. (Minnesota)
  • Defendant: Barnes & Noble, Inc. (Delaware)
  • Plaintiff’s Counsel: Direction IP Law
• Case Identification: 2:23-cv-00500, E.D. Tex., 10/24/2023
• Venue Allegations: Venue is alleged based on Defendant maintaining a principal place of business in Tyler, Texas, which is located within the Eastern District of Texas.
• Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that the automated image carousel feature on Defendant’s e-commerce website infringes two patents related to server-side systems for creating and displaying sequential presentations of web content.
• Technical Context: The technology at issue addresses the automated generation and presentation of web page "slideshows" or "tours," a feature commonly used on commercial websites for promotional content carousels.
• Key Procedural History: The complaint notes that U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 is a continuation-in-part of the application that issued as U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629, indicating the patents share a common specification. The complaint also references the prosecution history of the '707 patent to assert that the concept of automatically composing a slideshow via extraction of web page details was considered unconventional by the patent examiner.

Case Timeline

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

U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629 - "Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore"

• Patent Identification: U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629, "Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore," issued January 30, 2007.

The Invention Explained

• Problem Addressed: The patent's background describes prior art web navigation as often tedious and inefficient, requiring users to manually click through web pages or developers to undertake costly reprogramming to create automated or streaming presentations ('629 Patent, col. 7:40-59). The patent identifies a need for a system that enables the automated presentation of web page sequences without requiring reprogramming of site content or the installation of special development tools (Compl. ¶17; '629 Patent, col. 7:60-67).
• The Patented Solution: The invention is a server-side system comprising two main components: a "composer" and a "performer" operating on a host server ('629 Patent, FIG. 1). The composer is used by a site owner or developer to create a "presentation," which consists of a list of URLs, a display sequence, and a display duration ('629 Patent, Abstract). The performer then automatically loads and displays this presentation to a web user as a "slide show," eliminating the need for the user to manually navigate between the pages ('629 Patent, col. 9:30-44).
• Technical Importance: This server-side approach was designed to improve user engagement by replacing the "passive site and active visitor" model with an "active site/active visitor" model, guiding users through curated content "tours" to increase the time they spend on a site (Compl. ¶19; '629 Patent, col. 13:30-50).

Key Claims at a Glance

• The complaint asserts independent claim 11 (Compl. ¶26).
• The essential elements of claim 11 are:
  • Remotely invoking a "composer" operating on a host server.
  • Creating a "presentation" in the composer by:
    • Establishing a list of URLs using manual or query-based methods.
    • Determining a display sequence for the list of URLs.
    • Determining a display duration for the list of URLs.
  • Remotely invoking a "performer" operating on the host server to present the created presentation.
  • Automatically locally displaying the presentation in a slide show format, where each URL is a slide and is displayed for a pre-determined duration without human intervention.
• The prayer for relief requests judgment on "one or more claims," preserving the right to assert other claims (Compl. ¶VI.a).

U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 - "Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore"

• Patent Identification: U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707, "Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore," issued September 23, 2008.

The Invention Explained

• Problem Addressed: As a continuation-in-part sharing a specification with the '629 Patent, the '707 Patent addresses the same general problems of web navigation (Compl. ¶44). However, the focus of the claims and the prosecution history cited in the complaint is on the challenge of automating the creation of the slideshow itself, rather than just its display (Compl. ¶¶44-45).
• The Patented Solution: The invention is an "auto-composing" system that composes a slideshow by automatically extracting web page details from a desired web page ('707 Patent, Abstract). This extraction can be performed by identifying hyperlinks ("hrefs"), a specified text file containing URLs, or a special meta tag within the target web page's code ('707 Patent, col. 8:20-41, FIG. 12).
• Technical Importance: This solution automates the labor-intensive step of gathering and listing URLs, allowing a slideshow to be generated dynamically from the existing content of a single web page (Compl. ¶45).

Key Claims at a Glance

• The complaint asserts independent claim 7 (Compl. ¶46).
• The essential elements of claim 7 are:
  • Composing a presentation for a desired web page by creating a list of URLs.
  • The composing step comprises one or more of: (a) automatically extracting hyperlinks from the web page, (b) automatically extracting a presentation/rendition text file from the web page, or (c) automatically extracting a meta tag from the web page.
  • Automatically displaying the presentation in the order of the created list of URLs.
• The prayer for relief preserves the right to assert other claims (Compl. ¶VI.b).

III. The Accused Instrumentality

• Product Identification: The accused instrumentality is the website https://www.barnesandnoble.com/ and the methods it employs, particularly the automated promotional image slideshow or carousel feature on its homepage (Compl. ¶¶26-27, 46). Exhibit E of the complaint provides a screen capture of the homepage showing the web slide show in the upper portion (Compl. ¶27).
• Functionality and Market Context: The complaint alleges that the accused website uses HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to create and present a slideshow of images to users (Compl. ¶28). The functionality involves server-side components that compose the presentation and client-side code that displays it, with the slideshow advancing automatically based on a pre-set duration to show different promotional offerings (Compl. ¶¶32, 36, 48). The complaint identifies a specific HTML element, <div class="slick-track">, as being associated with the slide show (Compl. ¶28).

IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations

'629 Patent Infringement Allegations

'707 Patent Infringement Allegations

• Identified Points of Contention:
  • Architectural Scope ('629 Patent): A primary question will be whether the accused system's architecture maps onto the patent's distinct server-side "composer" and "performer" components. The defense may argue that a modern, integrated content management system does not have the discrete, separable modules envisioned by the patent.
  • Evidentiary Questions: The complaint relies heavily on observations of client-side code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and "information and belief" to allege the functionality of the claimed server-side method steps. A key point of contention will be whether Plaintiff can produce evidence of how the server-side components actually operate.
  • Technical Questions ('707 Patent): The infringement theory for the '707 Patent hinges on "automatically extracting" URLs from the "desired web page." A central dispute will likely be whether the accused system extracts these URLs from the content or structure of the homepage itself (e.g., parsing its HTML), or whether the URLs are simply supplied to the page-generating script from an external source, such as a promotions database, which may not meet the claim's requirements.

V. Key Claim Terms for Construction

• The Term: "composer" ('629 Patent, Claim 11)

  • Context and Importance: The patent's architecture is defined by the interaction between a "composer" and a "performer." The definition of "composer" is critical because if it is construed narrowly as a specific, standalone tool, the defendant may argue its integrated, dynamic page-generation system does not contain such a component.
  • Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
    • Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The Abstract describes the invention as a "software program incorporating... a composing portion," which could suggest any software module that performs the claimed functions ('629 Patent, Abstract).
    • Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: FIG. 1 depicts "Composer 12" as a distinct block on the "Host Server 16," separate from the "Performer 14." The detailed description explains that the composer is invoked by a "site owner/developer" to input lists of sites, durations, and sequences, suggesting a configuration tool rather than a real-time content assembly engine ('629 Patent, col. 9:18-24; FIG. 1).

• The Term: "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page" ('707 Patent, Claim 7)

  • Context and Importance: This term is central to the infringement allegation for the '707 patent and distinguishes it from the '629 patent. The case may turn on whether the accused system's method of gathering URLs for its slideshow qualifies as "extracting... from the desired web page."
  • Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
    • Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: One could argue that any automated server-side process that gathers URLs to build the content of a webpage is "extracting" them from some data source associated with that page.
    • Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The specification's flowchart in FIG. 12 shows this step as "Extract Hyperlinks (hrefs) from Default Page" (element 904). This language, combined with the description of extracting from meta tags or text files also on the page, suggests a process of parsing an existing web page document to find URLs contained within it, not merely retrieving a list of URLs from a database to construct the page in the first place ('707 Patent, col. 8:20-24).

VI. Other Allegations

• Indirect Infringement: The complaint does not include counts for indirect or willful infringement. It advances a theory of direct infringement, alleging that Defendant performs all steps of the claimed methods. For steps that involve user interaction (e.g., navigating to the website), the complaint alleges that Defendant "directs or controls performance," implicating a theory of divided or joint infringement (Compl. ¶33).
• Willful Infringement: The complaint makes no allegation of willful infringement.

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

• A core issue will be one of architectural mapping: Does the accused Barnes & Noble website, presumably a modern dynamic content management system, contain the discrete server-side "composer" and "performer" components required by the '629 patent's claims, or is there a fundamental mismatch between the claimed architecture and the accused system?
• A key question of claim construction and technical evidence will define the '707 patent dispute: Does "automatically extracting... from the desired web page" require parsing the HTML content of the page itself, as the patent specification appears to suggest, or can it be read to cover a server-side script that retrieves promotional URLs from a database to dynamically build the homepage carousel?
• A central evidentiary challenge for the Plaintiff will be to move beyond its "information and belief" allegations and client-side observations to provide concrete evidence of the specific inner workings of the accused server-side systems to prove they perform the functions required by the claims.