Amazon.com, Inc. et al. v. AlmondNet, Inc.

Petition

Petition summary

Invalidity analysis

Prosecution analysis

Examiner search

## 1. Case Identification
- Case Number: [IPR2025-00545](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545)
- Patent #: [8,494,904](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1001)
- Filed: March 10, 2025
- Petitioner(s): AMAZON.COM, INC., [AMAZON WEB SERVICES](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/party/amazon-web-services-inc), INC., and AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC
- Patent Owner(s): [ALMONDNET](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/party/almondnet-inc), INC.
- Challenged Claims: 1, 3-11, 13-21, and 23-30

## 2. Patent Overview
- Title: Method and System for Targeting Advertisements
- Brief Description: [The ’904 patent](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1001) relates to an automated method for collecting and accumulating descriptive user profile data for targeted advertising. The system receives "partial profiles" from multiple unaffiliated third-party websites via URL redirection and adds them to a maintained central profile for an internet user.

## 3. Grounds for Unpatentability

#### Ground 1: Obviousness over Merriman061 and Jaye - Claims 1, 3-6, 10-11, 13-16, 20-21, 23-26, and 30 are obvious over Merriman061 in view of Jaye.
- **Prior Art Relied Upon:** Patent [5,948,061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004) ([Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004)), Patent [6,415,322](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1005) ([Jaye](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1005)).
- **Core Argument for this Ground:**
  - **Prior Art Mapping:** Petitioner argued that [Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004), assigned to DoubleClick, discloses a central ad server that receives ad requests from unaffiliated "affiliate web sites" via HTML links. This ad server uses cookies and a user database to select and serve targeted ads. However, [Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004) does not explicitly teach how partial profiles are received from these affiliate sites. [Jaye](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1005), assigned to Engage, Inc., was argued to supply this missing element by teaching a system where local servers at various websites use a "special URL" to redirect a user's browser to a central "enterprise server," appending user and site information to the URL itself. This appended information constitutes a "partial profile" that is used to build a comprehensive global profile at the enterprise server.
  - **Motivation to Combine (for §103 grounds):** A person of ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) would combine these references to improve the ad targeting system of [Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004). Incorporating [Jaye's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1005) technique for passing detailed profile information within a redirect URL would provide the ad server with richer, real-time data from multiple sources, leading to more accurate user profiles and more effective, valuable targeted advertising.
  - **Expectation of Success (for §103 grounds):** A POSITA would have a reasonable expectation of success because the combination relies on conventional and well-understood internet technologies, such as URL redirection, appending parameters to a URL, and using databases to store and retrieve user data.

#### Ground 2: Obviousness over Rosenberg and Merriman154 - Claims 1, 3-6, 9-11, 13-16, 19-21, 23-26, and 29-30 are obvious over Rosenberg in view of Merriman154.
- **Prior Art Relied Upon:** Patent [6,073,241](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) ([Rosenberg](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006)), Patent [8,566,154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007) ([Merriman154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007)).
- **Core Argument for this Ground:**
  - **Prior Art Mapping:** Petitioner asserted that [Rosenberg](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) teaches a system for tracking users across distinct domains, where multiple cooperating web servers pass user identifiers to a central database server using URL redirection to build a shared user profile. While [Rosenberg](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) discloses the concept, Petitioner argued that [Merriman154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007) (also assigned to DoubleClick) teaches a more specific and commercially implemented method for this data transfer. [Merriman154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007) discloses using "spotlight tags" (i.e., 1x1 pixel images) on an advertiser's website, which act as a redirect message to pass real-time user activity data back to a central advertising server for "re-targeting" purposes.
  - **Motivation to Combine (for §103 grounds):** A POSITA would be motivated to modify [Rosenberg's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) conceptual framework with the specific, real-time data collection technique of [Merriman154's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007) spotlight tags. This would enhance [Rosenberg's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) system by enabling the central database to receive profile updates in real-time, allowing for more current profiles and enabling valuable re-targeting campaigns based on a user's immediate past behavior.
  - **Expectation of Success (for §103 grounds):** Success would be expected as this involves substituting one known form of URL redirection for another, more efficient one. Both techniques operate on the same principle of using an embedded link to cause a browser to communicate with a second server, a fundamental and predictable web mechanism.

#### Ground 3: Obviousness over Primary Combinations and Coleman - Claims 7-8, 17-18, and 27-28 are obvious over the combination of either (Merriman061 and Jaye) or (Rosenberg and Merriman154), in view of Coleman.
- **Prior Art Relied Upon:** The combinations from Grounds 1 and 2, plus Application # [2002/0026351](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019) ([Coleman](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019)).
- **Core Argument for this Ground:**
  - **Prior Art Mapping:** This ground builds upon the systems of Grounds 1 and 2 by adding the teachings of [Coleman](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019) to address claims reciting a "credibility rating" (claim 7) and its reflection in a "price" (claim 8). Petitioner argued that [Coleman](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019) explicitly teaches verifying user profile information against external "secondary sources" or "other databases." The result of this verification is used to update the profile, effectively creating a credibility score indicating the reliability of the data.
  - **Motivation to Combine (for §103 grounds):** A POSITA would be motivated to add [Coleman's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019) verification step to the profile-building systems of the primary combinations to increase the value of the collected data. Verified demographic and interest data is more reliable and thus more valuable to advertisers, which in turn allows the entity managing the ad network to charge higher prices for access to that data or for ad placements targeted with it.
  - **Expectation of Success (for §103 grounds):** The modification involves routine database operations, such as adding fields to a data structure to store verification status or a score, which is a conventional and predictable task.
- **Additional Grounds:** Petitioner asserted an additional obviousness challenge (Ground 4) against claims 7-8, 17-18, and 27-28 based on [Rosenberg](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006), [Merriman154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007), and [Coleman](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019), which relied on the same motivation to add [Coleman's](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1019) verification teachings to the base combination.

## 4. Key Claim Construction Positions
- For the purpose of the petition, Petitioner adopted the Patent Owner's proposed constructions from a parallel district court litigation for key terms to demonstrate invalidity even under those constructions.
- **"unaffiliated third parties":** Construed as "a party not having common ownership with the party or parties that control said programmed computer system." This construction is used to argue that the "affiliate" websites in the prior art, which contract with but are not owned by the ad server entity, meet this limitation.
- **"URL redirection":** Construed as "obtaining certain information for at least a portion of an accessed page / site from a different location." This broad construction is used to argue that techniques like embedding links to ad servers ([Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004)) or using spotlight tags ([Merriman154](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1007)) constitute URL redirection.

## 5. Arguments Regarding Discretionary Denial
- **Fintiv:** Petitioner argued against discretionary denial under §314(a) because the parallel litigation is in its earliest stages. No discovery or claim construction has occurred, and the trial is not scheduled until November 2026, allowing the Board to issue a Final Written Decision (FWD) long before trial.
- **Advanced Bionics (§325(d)):** Petitioner argued against denial under §325(d), asserting that the same or substantially the same art and arguments were not previously presented to the USPTO. Key references like [Merriman061](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1004) and [Rosenberg](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1006) were not before the examiner during prosecution. While [Jaye](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1005) was cited on an Information Disclosure Statement (IDS), there is no evidence the examiner appreciated its relevance or considered it in the specific combinations presented in the petition.

## 6. Relief Requested
- Petitioner requests the institution of an inter partes review (IPR) and the cancellation of claims 1, 3-11, 13-21, and 23-30 of the [’904 patent](https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/ptab/IPR2025-00545/doc/1001) as unpatentable.

Amazon targets ad targeting patent: DoubleClick & Engage prior art cited against 26 claims as obvious for combining ad servers with URL redirection.

IPR2025-00545

Amazon.com, Inc. v. AlmondNet, Inc.