PTAB

IPR2025-00337

GOOGLE LLC v. EscapeX IP LLC

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1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: System for Aggregating Content and Facilitating Uncapped Engagement of the Content
  • Brief Description: The ’687 patent discloses business methods for social media platforms. The system addresses a perceived limitation of single "likes" by allowing users to pay for the ability to perform "uncapped engagements" with content and ranks users based on the number of engagements obtained.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Obviousness over Fuloria and Andler - Claims 1-3, 5-6, 13-15, and 17-18 are obvious over Fuloria in view of Andler.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Application # 2013/0030905 (“Fuloria”) and Application # 2014/0025688 (“Andler”).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that the combination of Fuloria and Andler renders the base claims obvious. Fuloria was asserted to disclose a social media system (e.g., Facebook) that facilitates "uncapped engagement" by allowing users to exchange "credits" for "super-likes" to promote content, with no upper limit on the number of super-likes or the resources spent. Andler was asserted to teach a social media system that calculates and displays user "engagement scores" and ranks users based on those scores to identify and reward "top fans." Petitioner contended that the combination of displaying engagement numbers for multiple users (from Andler) with a system for uncapped, paid-for engagements (from Fuloria) teaches the limitations of independent claims 1 and 13.
    • Motivation to Combine: Petitioner argued a person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would combine Andler’s ranking and scoring features with Fuloria’s paid promotion system. The motivation stemmed from the shared context (social media platforms like Facebook) and the complementary nature of the teachings. Combining them would predictably provide incentives for users to engage more (e.g., for "bragging rights" associated with a high rank) and would help content creators identify and reward their most engaged fans.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted that combining these known elements from the same field would have yielded predictable results, as the underlying components of social network systems were well-known and the ’687 patent itself provides only high-level, generic technical disclosure.

Ground 2: Obviousness over Fuloria, Andler, and WO ’100 - Claims 11 and 23 are obvious over Fuloria in view of Andler, further in view of WO ’100.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Fuloria, Andler, and WO 2015/089100 (“WO ’100”).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that independent claims 11 and 23, which require a joint indication from multiple users to obtain engagements, are rendered obvious by adding the teachings of WO ’100 to the base combination of Fuloria and Andler. WO ’100 was asserted to teach a system where multiple users can "join forces" or "team up" to elevate a piece of content, increasing its likelihood of being noticed by a high-profile user.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would incorporate WO ’100's "teaming up" functionality into the Fuloria/Andler system to allow users to combine their resources and influence. This would empower users to more effectively promote content and achieve higher engagement levels or rankings than they could individually.

Ground 3: Obviousness over Fuloria, Andler, and Bartholomew - Claims 12 and 24 are obvious over Fuloria in view of Andler, further in view of Bartholomew.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Fuloria, Andler, and Application # 2016/0314501 (“Bartholomew”).

  • Core Argument for this Ground:

    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that independent claims 12 and 24, which add the functionality for one user to "donate" resources to another, are rendered obvious by adding the teachings of Bartholomew. Bartholomew was asserted to teach a social network system where users can transfer resources (credits) to other users, specifically teaching that "credits may be gifted for free."
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would be motivated to add this resource-gifting functionality for numerous practical and obvious reasons, such as to permit a user to help a friend, to allow a user closing an account to transfer their accumulated credits, or to encourage another user to make donations by first gifting them resources.

  • Additional Grounds: Petitioner asserted additional obviousness challenges, including:

    • Claims 4 and 16 over Fuloria, Andler, and Kirk (Application # 2015/0058103), where Kirk teaches awarding resources to one user based on the activity of another.
    • Claims 7-10 and 19-22 over Fuloria, Andler, and Cheung (Patent 7,835,943), where Cheung teaches a system for automatically bidding resources to achieve and maintain a desired rank.

4. Key Claim Construction Positions

  • Petitioner argued that to the extent the term "engagement" requires construction, it should be construed according to its definition in the ’687 patent's specification as "an indication that a user should be distinguished with respect to the content over another user." This construction is central to Petitioner's argument that actions disclosed in the prior art, such as "super-liking" content, meet this limitation.

5. Arguments Regarding Discretionary Denial

  • Petitioner argued that the Board should not exercise its discretion to deny the petition. It contended that denial under 35 U.S.C. §325(d) is inappropriate because none of the prior art references asserted in the grounds were of record during the prosecution of the ’687 patent. Petitioner also argued against denial under §314(a), stating that there is no currently pending parallel litigation involving the ’687 patent.

6. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests institution of an inter partes review (IPR) and cancellation of claims 1-24 of Patent 10,474,687 as unpatentable.