DCT
4:25-cv-00632
Adaptive Avenue Associates Inc v. Northern Tool & Equipment Co Inc
I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information
- Parties & Counsel:
- Plaintiff: Adaptive Avenue Associates, Inc. (Minnesota)
- Defendant: Northern Tool & Equipment Company, Inc. (Minnesota)
- Plaintiff’s Counsel: Direction IP Law
- Case Identification: 4:25-cv-00632, E.D. Tex., 09/02/2025
- Venue Allegations: Plaintiff alleges venue is proper because Defendant maintains regular and established places of business in the district, including at 4910 S. Broadway Ave, Tyler, TX and 6250 Eastex Fwy, Ste 100, Beaumont, TX, and has allegedly committed acts of infringement in the district.
- Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s website, which features an automatically rotating "carousel ad," infringes two patents related to systems and methods for creating and displaying automated, customizable presentations of web content.
- Technical Context: The technology concerns server-side systems for generating sequential, "slide show" style presentations of web pages or content, a feature now common in e-commerce and advertising for displaying multiple products or promotions in a compact space.
- 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 and inventive lineage.
Case Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2000-10-20 | U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629 Priority Date |
| 2002-10-31 | U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 Priority Date |
| 2007-01-30 | U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629 Issues |
| 2008-09-23 | U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 Issues |
| 2025-09-02 | Complaint Filing Date |
II. Technology and Patent(s)-in-Suit Analysis
U.S. Patent No. 7,171,629 - Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore (Issued Jan. 30, 2007)
The Invention Explained
- Problem Addressed: The patent describes a need for a system that allows website owners to create an "automated presentation of desired web page sequences" without incurring the costs of reprogramming site content or requiring users to install special development tools (Compl. ¶23; ’629 Patent, col. 7:60-67). The prior art approach required users to manually click through pages or developers to create costly, monolithic animated presentations (Compl. ¶¶ 17-18).
- The Patented Solution: The invention is a software system, preferably operating on a host server, that uses two main components: a "composer" and a "performer" (’629 Patent, Fig. 1). The composer creates a "presentation" by establishing a list of URLs, a display sequence, and a display duration for each URL (’629 Patent, Abstract). The performer then automatically loads and displays this presentation to a user as an automated "slide show" (’629 Patent, col. 9:30-44). This client-server architecture allows for dynamic, automated web tours without altering the underlying websites or requiring client-side installations (Compl. ¶¶ 24, 26).
- Technical Importance: This approach aimed to replace a "passive site and active visitor" model with an "active site and active visitor" model, increasing user engagement by presenting curated content sequences automatically (’629 Patent, col. 13:35-50).
Key Claims at a Glance
- The complaint asserts independent claim 11 (Compl. ¶37).
- Claim 11 Elements:
- A method for customizing access to web sites.
- Remotely invoking a composer operating on a host server.
- Creating a presentation in the composer by:
- Establishing a list of URLs using either manual entry or a query-based system.
- 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.
- Each slide is automatically displayed to a user, absent human intervention, for the pre-determined duration as at least a portion of a web page.
U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 - Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore (Issued Sep. 23, 2008)
The Invention Explained
- Problem Addressed: The ’707 Patent addresses a similar problem to its parent ’629 Patent but focuses on the challenge of automatically composing a slide show from an existing web page (Compl. ¶56). In the prior art, creating a slide show required manual composition and storage of the list of sites or images (Compl. ¶56).
- The Patented Solution: The invention introduces an "auto composer" that automatically creates a presentation by extracting details from a "desired web page" (’707 Patent, Abstract). This extraction can be done by finding and listing all hyperlinks on the page, reading a dedicated presentation/rendition text file on the server, or reading a specific meta tag within the page's code that contains the list of URLs (’707 Patent, Abstract; Compl. ¶56). A "performer" then displays this automatically generated list as a slide show.
- Technical Importance: This method allows for the creation of dynamic web presentations without any manual authoring of the URL list, enabling a web page to effectively generate its own slide show based on its content.
Key Claims at a Glance
- The complaint asserts independent claim 7 (Compl. ¶58).
- Claim 7 Elements:
- A method for auto composing a web site.
- Composing a presentation for a desired web page by creating a list of URLs.
- The composing step comprises one of the following:
- Automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page.
- Automatically extracting a presentation/rendition text file from the desired web page.
- Automatically extracting a meta tag from the desired web page.
- Automatically displaying the presentation in the order of the created list of URLs.
III. The Accused Instrumentality
Product Identification
- The accused instrumentality is the website www.northerntool.com (Compl. ¶37).
Functionality and Market Context
- The complaint focuses on a feature described as a "web slide show" or "carousel ad" located on the website's homepage (Compl. ¶¶ 22, 38, 59). This feature uses HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to automatically rotate through a series of images and associated URLs, presenting promotional offers to users without manual interaction (Compl. ¶¶ 39, 47). Exhibit E of the complaint provides a screen capture of the accused website showing this slide show in the upper portion of the homepage (Compl. ¶¶ 38, 59). The complaint alleges that such carousel ads are an industry standard and can significantly increase user click-through rates and advertising cost-effectiveness compared to static ads (Compl. ¶22).
IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations
’629 Patent Infringement Allegations
| Claim Element (from Independent Claim 11) | Alleged Infringing Functionality | Complaint Citation | Patent Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| remotely invoking a composer operating on a host server | A user's web browser, upon visiting northerntool.com, invokes code or components operating on Defendant's host server(s) to initiate the slide show. | ¶39 | col. 14:10-11 |
| establishing a list of URLs in said composer by one of a plurality of list establishment methodologies... comprising manual entry... and automatic entry by a query-based system | The composer on the server establishes a list of URLs for the slide show, allegedly through manual entry by Defendant or by automatically querying a database or other resource. | ¶41 | col. 14:49-54 |
| determining a display sequence of said list of URLs in said composer | The server-side code determines the sequence in which the slides are displayed, which is visible in the website's source code. Exhibit C depicts an exemplary slide sequence. | ¶42 | col. 14:55-57 |
| determining a duration of display for said list of URLs in said composer | The server-side composer accepts a pre-set display duration for each slide in the presentation. | ¶43 | col. 14:58-60 |
| remotely invoking a performer operating on said host server to present said created presentation | A user navigating to the website invokes the performer, which comprises code and resources on the host server that provide the automated slide show. | ¶44 | col. 14:61-63 |
| automatically locally displaying the created presentation... in a slide show format... wherein each slide is automatically displayed to a user, absent human intervention | The slide show on the homepage automatically advances from one slide to the next based on a pre-set duration, without requiring user clicks. Exhibit A shows HTML elements associated with the slide show, including a pointer that rotates through the images. | ¶¶45, 47 | col. 14:64-67 |
- Identified Points of Contention:
- Scope Questions: A central question may be whether the combination of server-side code and client-side scripts (e.g., HTML, JavaScript) used by a modern website constitutes the distinct "composer" and "performer" architecture operating on a "host server" as described in the patent.
- Technical Questions: The analysis may focus on how the list of URLs for the carousel is actually "established." The complaint alleges this is done via "manual entry" or a "query-based system," but the defense may argue that the list is generated by other means (e.g., a static, hard-coded list in a configuration file) that fall outside the claim's specific "list establishment methodologies."
’707 Patent Infringement Allegations
| Claim Element (from Independent Claim 7) | Alleged Infringing Functionality | Complaint Citation | Patent Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| composing a presentation for a desired web page by creating a list of URLs | Dynamic server-side components on Defendant's web servers create a presentation (the slide show) by creating a list of URLs corresponding to the images to be displayed. | ¶60 | col. 10:33-35 |
| wherein said step of composing comprises (a) automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page... or (c) automatically extracting a meta tag from the desired web page | The composer on the server allegedly automatically extracts "web page details" from the homepage, such as hyperlinks or other addresses, to create the list of URLs for the slide show. The complaint identifies the image URLs as the extracted hyperlinks. | ¶61 | col. 10:41-49 |
| automatically displaying the presentation, wherein the presentation is presented in order of the created list of URLs | Software components load and advance the URLs for display, presenting the slide show to the user, activated by the user entering the website. | ¶62 | col. 10:50-53 |
- Identified Points of Contention:
- Scope Questions: The definition of "extracting" will be critical. The question is whether dynamically assembling a list of image URLs from a database to embed in a webpage constitutes "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page," or if the claim requires a process more akin to scraping a pre-existing, rendered page for its
<a>tags. - Technical Questions: A key evidentiary issue will be whether the accused system actually performs one of the three claimed methods of automatic composition (extracting hyperlinks, a text file, or a meta tag). The complaint alleges this occurs (Compl. ¶61), but does not provide source code or other direct evidence of the specific extraction mechanism used by Defendant's server-side components.
- Scope Questions: The definition of "extracting" will be critical. The question is whether dynamically assembling a list of image URLs from a database to embed in a webpage constitutes "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page," or if the claim requires a process more akin to scraping a pre-existing, rendered page for its
V. Key Claim Terms for Construction
From the ’629 Patent:
- The Term: "composer" / "performer"
- Context and Importance: These terms define the core architecture of the claimed system. The complaint alleges these components operate on a "host server" in an unconventional manner (Compl. ¶¶ 28-29). The infringement analysis will depend on whether the accused website's collection of server-side and client-side code can be mapped onto this specific two-part structure.
- Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The specification describes the composer and performer as "main components" of a "software program" (’629 Patent, col. 9:15-17), which could support construing them as functional software modules rather than requiring a specific, rigid structure.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: Figure 1 of the patent depicts the "Composer 12" and "Performer 14" as distinct blocks residing together on "Host Server 16," interacting with different external entities (Site Owner vs. User). This could support an interpretation requiring two structurally separate and functionally distinct software components on the server.
From the ’707 Patent:
- The Term: "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page"
- Context and Importance: This is the central inventive concept alleged for the ’707 Patent. The case will likely turn on whether the accused system's method for generating its image carousel content meets this definition. The complaint alleges the image URLs are the "hyperlinks that got automatically extracted" (Compl. ¶61).
- Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The patent's summary states the system composes a slide show through "automatic extraction of web page details," which includes "hyperlinks found within the desired web page" (’707 Patent, Abstract). This could be argued to cover any automated process that gathers link information for a page, even if from a database, before the page is rendered.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The claim language "extracting... from the desired web page" suggests a process that acts upon an existing web page object to pull information out of it. The complaint from the prosecution history states the invention was patentable over prior art where a slideshow was composed manually, suggesting the novelty is in the automation of the composition from page content, not just automated display (’707 Patent, Compl. ¶57).
VI. Analyst’s Conclusion: Key Questions for the Case
- A core issue will be one of architectural equivalence: Does the distributed, script-based functionality of the accused modern website, which involves both server-side processing and client-side execution, map onto the distinct server-side "composer" and "performer" components as defined and depicted in the '629 patent?
- A central technical question will be one of operative function: What is the specific mechanism by which the accused website generates its list of carousel slides? The viability of the infringement claim against the '707 patent will depend on whether this mechanism can be proven to be one of the three specific "automatic extraction" methods recited in claim 7 (from hyperlinks, a text file, or a meta tag).
- A key question of claim scope will be the definition of "extracting... from the desired web page" in the '707 patent. The case may turn on whether this term is construed to mean scraping a static page for its links, or if it can be read more broadly to cover server-side dynamic assembly of content that will ultimately appear on the page.