DCT

6:20-cv-01163

WSOU Investments LLC v. Salesforcecom Inc

I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information

Parties & Counsel:
- Plaintiff: WSOU Investments, LLC d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development (Delaware)
- Defendant: Salesforce.com, Inc. (Delaware)
- Plaintiff’s Counsel: Etheridge Law Group, PLLC
Case Identification: 6:20-cv-01163, W.D. Tex., 12/18/2020
Venue Allegations: Plaintiff alleges venue is proper in the Western District of Texas because Defendant has regular and established places of business in the district, including office space in Austin and over 300 employees working in cities such as Waco, Austin, and San Antonio.
Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s Salesforce Communities platform infringes a patent related to methods for dynamically presenting alternative identity information based on contextual data.
Technical Context: The technology at issue concerns systems that customize user-facing information, such as menu options on a web platform, based on parameters like user location.
Key Procedural History: The complaint does not mention any prior litigation involving the patent-in-suit, Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings, or relevant licensing history.

Case Timeline

Date	Event
2004-08-31	’731 Patent Priority Date
2009-06-23	’731 Patent Issue Date
2020-12-18	Complaint Filing Date

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

U.S. Patent No. 7,551,731 - "Flexible caller ID and calling name information presentation"

Patent Identification: U.S. Patent No. 7,551,731, "Flexible caller ID and calling name information presentation", issued June 23, 2009.

The Invention Explained

Problem Addressed: The patent describes a limitation in prior art telecommunication systems where end users have little control over the caller ID name and number displayed on a called party's device, and the displayed information cannot be programmed to change based on context like the time or day (U.S. Patent No. 7,551,731, col. 2:11-20).
The Patented Solution: The invention discloses a network-supported method allowing a calling terminal to use an "alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message" in place of its preassigned information. This alternate information is stored in a network database and can be selected for display on the called terminal based on specific parameters, such as the time of day, thereby providing context-aware identification ('731 Patent, Abstract; col. 3:41-54).
Technical Importance: This approach enabled a more dynamic and flexible method for presenting identity in telecommunications, moving beyond the static identifiers common at the time ('731 Patent, col. 2:11-20).

Key Claims at a Glance

The complaint asserts infringement of "at least claim 1" of the ’731 Patent (Compl. ¶29).
Independent Claim 1 recites a method with the following essential elements:
- entering a command to use at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message for a calling terminal, instead of a preassigned caller name and caller number for the calling terminal;
- looking up, based on at least one of a hour, minute, second and day, the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message,
- the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message being changeable by at least one of the calling terminal and a network; and
- using the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message in place of the preassigned caller name and caller number for the calling terminal.
The complaint does not explicitly reserve the right to assert dependent claims, but the prayer for relief requests judgment of infringement of "one or more claims" (Compl. p. 19, ¶(A)).

III. The Accused Instrumentality

Product Identification

The accused instrumentality is Defendant's Salesforce Communities platform (Compl. ¶4).

Functionality and Market Context

Salesforce Communities is a platform that allows businesses to create branded online spaces to connect with their employees, customers, and partners (Compl. ¶5).
The complaint alleges that administrators can customize these communities, including their navigation menus (Compl. ¶6). A key alleged function is the ability to detect the location of a user's device, for which the complaint provides a screenshot of a Salesforce developer forum discussing the use of an "sforce" Javascript object (Compl. ¶7). This screenshot shows sample code for using sforce.geolocation.getCurrentPosition to retrieve a user's latitude and longitude (Compl. ¶7, Fig. on p. 5).
The platform allegedly uses this location information to present different services or menu items to the user (Compl. ¶8). For example, the complaint alleges the platform uses a "translation workbench" with five-character locale codes (e.g., "en_AU") to identify languages based on geographic location (Compl. ¶20, Fig. on p. 13).
The complaint uses the "community.logitech.com" website, allegedly built with the accused product, as a non-limiting example of an infringing implementation (Compl. ¶11).

IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations

’731 Patent Infringement Allegations

Claim Element (from Independent Claim 1)	Alleged Infringing Functionality	Complaint Citation	Patent Citation
entering a command to use at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message for a calling terminal, instead of a preassigned caller name and caller number for the calling terminal;	An administrator for a Salesforce Community configures the community by adding and defining menu items. The complaint alleges this configuration, such as adding a new menu item via the platform's UI, constitutes "entering a command" to use alternate information. A screenshot from a YouTube tutorial shows the "Add Navigation Menu" interface used for this purpose (Compl. ¶7, Fig. on p. 7).	¶9, ¶10	col. 6:40-47
looking up, based on at least one of a hour, minute, second and day, the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message,	The complaint alleges the accused product detects the location of a user's device and uses that location information to determine which menu items or language to present. It is alleged that the system uses locale codes tied to geographic location to look up the appropriate content (Compl. ¶20-21).	¶7, ¶16, ¶20	col. 6:48-52
the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message being changeable by at least one of the calling terminal and a network;	An administrator (the "calling terminal" user) can modify the community's navigation menu and location-based rules through the Salesforce platform (the "network") (Compl. ¶5, ¶9-10).	¶5, ¶10	col. 6:53-57
using the at least one of an alternate caller name, an alternate caller number and an alternate caller message in place of the preassigned caller name and caller number for the calling terminal.	The accused product allegedly presents a customized, location-specific set of menu items or language instead of a default or standard version. The complaint provides a screenshot comparing the Logitech support page for a user in France, which displays menu items in French, against the U.S. version in English (Compl. ¶23, Fig. on p. 15).	¶8, ¶22-25	col. 6:58-64

Identified Points of Contention:
- Scope Questions: A primary issue for the court may be whether the patent's claim terms, which are rooted in telephony (e.g., "calling terminal", "caller name"), can be construed to encompass the actors and data in a web-based software platform (e.g., a user's browser, a set of navigation menu items).
- Technical Questions: A key technical question is whether the accused product's use of geographic location to select content meets the claim limitation requiring the lookup to be "based on at least one of a hour, minute, second and day". The complaint's infringement theory relies on location as the operative parameter, while the claim language specifies a temporal basis.

V. Key Claim Terms for Construction

The Term: "calling terminal"
- Context and Importance: The applicability of the patent to the accused web platform hinges on the construction of this term. Practitioners may focus on this term because its definition will determine whether the patent's scope is limited to telephonic devices or can extend to other network clients like a web browser.
- Intrinsic Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The patent specification refers generally to "the consumer and the enterprise, wireline and wireless systems," which could suggest a wider applicability beyond a specific type of device (col. 3:8-10).
- Intrinsic Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The patent is titled with reference to "caller ID," and the background section exclusively discusses telephony concepts like ANI and CNAP (col. 2:1-10). Figure 1 depicts a "mobile terminal" and a "wireline station," reinforcing a telephonic context ('731 Patent, FIG. 1).
The Term: "based on at least one of a hour, minute, second and day"
- Context and Importance: The infringement analysis turns on whether the accused system's location-based functionality falls within the scope of this time-based limitation.
- Intrinsic Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The specification states that control over displayed information could be "based on time of day or some other context," which a plaintiff might argue supports interpreting the claim's temporal language as an example of a broader contextual trigger (col. 3:61-62).
- Intrinsic Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: A defendant may argue that the claim language is unambiguous and explicitly lists only temporal units. Standard claim construction principles generally prevent importing broader concepts from the specification to rewrite clear claim limitations.

VI. Other Allegations

Indirect Infringement: The complaint alleges Salesforce induces infringement by providing "product descriptions, operating manuals, and other instructions" that instruct administrators on how to configure Salesforce Communities in an allegedly infringing manner (Compl. ¶32). Contributory infringement is also alleged on the basis that the accused products are "especially made or adapted for infringing" and lack substantial non-infringing uses (Compl. ¶33).
Willful Infringement: Willfulness is alleged based on Defendant's knowledge of the ’731 Patent "since at least the date of service of this Complaint," indicating an allegation of post-suit willfulness (Compl. ¶31).

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

A core issue will be one of definitional scope: can the patent's telephony-centric terms, such as "calling terminal" and "alternate caller name", be construed to cover a user’s web browser and a set of customized navigation menu items on a modern web platform?
A second central question will be one of technical basis: does the accused product's use of geographic location to alter content satisfy the claim 1 limitation requiring the system to act "based on at least one of a hour, minute, second and day"? The resolution may depend on whether specification language referencing "some other context" can inform the interpretation of the more specific, time-based claim language.