DCT
4:25-cv-01270
Adaptive Avenue Associates Inc v. HP Inc
Key Events
Complaint
I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information
- Parties & Counsel:
- Plaintiff: Adaptive Avenue Associates, Inc. (Minnesota)
- Defendant: HP Inc. (Delaware)
- Plaintiff’s Counsel: Direction IP Law
- Case Identification: 4:25-cv-01270, E.D. Tex., 11/21/2025
- Venue Allegations: Plaintiff alleges venue is proper in the Eastern District of Texas because Defendant HP Inc maintains a regular and established place of business in Frisco, Texas, and has allegedly committed acts of infringement within the district.
- Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s website, hp.com, infringes patents related to server-side systems and methods for creating and automatically displaying sequences of web content, a technology commonly known as a "web carousel" or "slideshow."
- Technical Context: The technology concerns methods for automating the presentation of multiple web pages or web page elements in a timed sequence, aiming to enhance user engagement without requiring client-side software installation or significant reprogramming of website content.
- 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. It also references the prosecution history of the ’707 Patent, stating the patent examiner found the claimed method of automatically composing a slideshow via "automatic extraction of web page details" to be unconventional compared to the prior art.
Case Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2000-10-20 | Earliest Priority Date (’629 and '707 Patents) |
| 2003-10-31 | Application Filing Date for '707 Patent |
| 2007-01-30 | Issue Date of '629 Patent |
| 2008-09-23 | Issue Date of '707 Patent |
| 2025-11-21 | 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
The Invention Explained
- Problem Addressed: The patent's background section describes a need for a system that allows website owners to provide automated presentations of web page sequences without the high costs of reprogramming site content or requiring users to install special development tools (’629 Patent, col. 7:60-67).
- The Patented Solution: The invention is a server-based system comprising two main components: a "composer" and a "performer," which both operate on a host server (’629 Patent, Fig. 1). The composer is used to create a "presentation" by defining 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 user as a timed slideshow, controlled from the server-side (’629 Patent, col. 9:51-58).
- Technical Importance: The technology provided a framework for creating dynamic, sequential web experiences that were more engaging than static pages, without relying on client-side plugins like Flash or requiring complex site-wide architectural changes (Compl. ¶24, 33).
Key Claims at a Glance
- The complaint asserts independent method claim 11 (Compl. ¶37).
- Claim 11 essential elements:
- remotely invoking a composer operating on a host server;
- creating a presentation in the composer by:
- establishing a list of URLs via 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; and
- automatically locally displaying the presentation in a slide show format, wherein each slide is automatically displayed to a user, absent human intervention, for a pre-determined duration.
U.S. Patent No. 7,428,707 - Customizable Web Site Access System And Method Therefore
The Invention Explained
- Problem Addressed: As a continuation-in-part sharing the specification of the ’629 Patent, the ’707 Patent addresses the same general problem of automating website navigation (Compl. ¶56). It specifically focuses on simplifying the creation of the presentation itself (Compl. ¶56).
- The Patented Solution: The invention claims a method for "auto composing" a web presentation. Instead of requiring manual creation of a URL list, the method involves automatically extracting web page details—such as hyperlinks, a text file, or a meta tag—from a desired web page to create the list of URLs for the slideshow (’707 Patent, Abstract). This automates the content-gathering step performed by the "composer" element of the parent invention.
- Technical Importance: This approach allows for the dynamic generation of slideshows directly from a website's existing content, reducing the manual effort required by developers to create and update such presentations (Compl. ¶56).
Key Claims at a Glance
- The complaint asserts independent method claim 7 (Compl. ¶58).
- Claim 7 essential elements:
- A method for auto composing a website, comprising the steps of:
- composing a presentation for a desired web page by creating a list of URLs, wherein composing comprises one or more of:
- automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page;
- automatically extracting a presentation/rendition text file from the desired web page; or
- automatically extracting a meta tag from the desired web page;
- and automatically displaying the presentation in order of the created list of URLs.
III. The Accused Instrumentality
Product Identification
- The website www.hp.com, referred to as the "Accused Instrumentality" (Compl. ¶37, 58).
Functionality and Market Context
- The complaint alleges that the HP website, particularly on its homepage, implements an automated "web slide show" or "carousel" feature that displays a rotating series of promotional content (Compl. ¶38, 59). This functionality is allegedly created using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, and the complaint specifically identifies an HTML element with "div class="slick-list draggable"" as part of the slide show's implementation (Compl. ¶39, 60). Exhibit E of the complaint provides a screen capture of the HP homepage showing the web slide show in the upper portion (Compl. Ex. E). The complaint asserts that such carousel features have become an industry standard capable of driving significantly higher user click-through rates than static advertisements (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 web browser or associated code remotely invokes a composer, which operates on the host server(s) of the Accused Instrumentality. | ¶39 | col. 14:12-14 |
| 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 establishes a list of URLs for the slideshow, allegedly via manual entry by Defendant or by automatically querying a database, file, or other resource. | ¶41 | col. 14:49-54 |
| determining a display sequence of said list of URLs in said composer; | The display sequence is determined by the source code of the Accused Instrumentality. Exhibit C is provided as an example of the slide sequence. | ¶42 | col. 14:55-57 |
| determining a duration of display for said list of URLs in said composer; | The composer accepts a pre-set display duration for each URL, and the slides advance based on this pre-set duration. | ¶43 | col. 14:58-60 |
| remotely invoking a performer operating on said host server to present said created presentation; | A user navigating to www.hp.com invokes the performer, which comprises the code and resources on the host server that provide for the automated slide show. | ¶44-45 | col. 14:61-63 |
| automatically locally displaying the created presentation...wherein each slide is automatically displayed to a user, absent human intervention, for the pre-determined display duration... | The slides of the presentation on www.hp.com automatically advance for a pre-set duration. The complaint references Exhibit A, noting the pointer "slick-current slick-active" progressively rotates through images. | ¶47 | col. 14:63-67 |
- Identified Points of Contention:
- Scope Questions: A central question may be whether the architecture of the accused feature, which the complaint identifies as using client-side technologies like JavaScript and a "slick-list draggable" element, can be mapped onto the patent's requirement for a "composer operating on a host server."
- Technical Questions: What evidence does the complaint provide that the "composer" is a distinct, server-side entity as depicted in the patent's Figure 1, rather than a client-side script that receives a pre-defined list of content from the server? The interpretation of "remotely invoking" will be critical to this analysis.
'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... | The Accused Instrumentality composes a presentation by creating a list of URLs for the slide show using dynamic server-side components. | ¶60 | col. 2:20-24 |
| 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 desired web page, www.hp.com, allegedly includes "web page details" such as addresses of other pages, and the plurality of hyperlinks (image URLs) are automatically extracted and invoked. | ¶61 | col. 2:21-28 |
| automatically displaying said presentation, wherein the presentation is presented in order of the created list of URLs. | Software components load and advance the URLs to be displayed when a user enters the website. The complaint cites Exhibit A, which shows the "slick-current slick-active" pointer rotating through images referenced by "data-slick-index" identifiers. | ¶62 | col. 2:28-31 |
- Identified Points of Contention:
- Scope Questions: Does the term "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page" require the system to actively scan the page's rendered content for links, or can it be read more broadly to cover a server-side process that reads a pre-defined list of image URLs associated with the page?
- Technical Questions: The complaint alleges that dynamic server-side components perform the "automatic extraction," but the provided evidence (Exhibits A, C, D) shows the resulting URLs and HTML. The case may require discovery to determine whether the accused system actually performs an "extraction" from the webpage to generate the slideshow list, or if the list is simply configured manually by a developer and served to the client.
V. Key Claim Terms for Construction
The Term: "composer operating on a host server" ('629 Patent, Claim 11)
Context and Importance: This term is foundational to the architecture of the claimed invention. The dispute will likely focus on whether the accused functionality at hp.com, which appears to be driven by client-side JavaScript, meets the limitation of a "composer" that is "operating on a host server."
Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The patent's stated goal is to avoid installing "development tools" on the user's computer (Compl. ¶23; ’629 Patent, col. 7:60-67), which could suggest that server-controlled scripts running temporarily in a browser are consistent with the invention, as they are not permanently installed.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: Figure 1 of the patent depicts the "Composer" as a distinct software block located within the "Host Server 16," separate from the "User 24" (’629 Patent, Fig. 1). This graphical separation suggests a purely server-side component that creates the presentation before it is sent to the user's system.
The Term: "automatically extracting a plurality of hyperlinks from the desired web page" ('707 Patent, Claim 7)
Context and Importance: This term defines the core inventive concept alleged for the '707 patent. Infringement depends on whether the accused system performs this specific automated content-gathering step, as opposed to simply displaying a pre-determined list of content.
Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
- Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: "Extracting" could be argued to encompass any automated server process that retrieves a list of URLs associated with a given webpage from a database or configuration file before the page is rendered.
- Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The complaint highlights the patent examiner's determination that this feature was "unconventional" because prior art slideshows were "composed manually" (Compl. ¶56-57). This prosecution history may support a narrower construction requiring the system to actively parse the content of the "desired web page" itself to find and collect the URLs, rather than retrieving a pre-made list.
VI. Other Allegations
- Indirect Infringement: The complaint does not include explicit counts for indirect or contributory infringement. However, it alleges that to the extent users are involved in performing steps of the claimed method, that performance is "attributable to Defendant, because, among other things, Defendant directed or controlled performance" (Compl. ¶44, 45).
- Willful Infringement: The complaint does not contain an allegation of willful infringement.
VII. Analyst’s Conclusion: Key Questions for the Case
- A core issue will be one of architectural scope: can the client-server architecture of the '629 patent, which requires a "composer operating on a host server," be construed to cover a modern web implementation that uses client-side JavaScript libraries to render a content carousel?
- A key evidentiary question will be one of technical operation: for the '707 patent, does the accused HP system actually perform the claimed step of "automatically extracting" URLs from the webpage content to generate the slideshow, or does it display a pre-configured list of assets? The answer will likely depend on evidence of how HP's back-end systems operate, which is not detailed in the complaint.