PTAB

IPR2026-00113

Meta Platforms Inc v. SitNet LLC

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Petition
petition

1. Case Identification

2. Patent Overview

  • Title: Creating a Situational Network
  • Brief Description: The ’052 patent relates to methods and systems for creating a temporary "situational network" (SitNet) as a subset of a larger multi-dimensional information network. This network allows participants to interact and exchange information regarding a specific event or situation, such as a social gathering or an emergency.

3. Grounds for Unpatentability

Ground 1: Claims 1-12 are obvious over Kraft, Nguyen, and Altman.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Kraft (Patent 7,747,648), Nguyen (Application # 2005/0033615), and Altman (Application # 2007/0281690).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Kraft disclosed the foundational multi-dimensional network. Kraft’s “world model” is a network of interrelated entity models representing real-world entities like people, places, and events, which are linked by navigable relationships. This system includes a networking server that maintains a database of these nodes and links. Petitioner contended that Nguyen supplied the missing "roll call" and response tracking functionalities. Nguyen taught an event planning system where a server generates and sends invitations soliciting an RSVP response, thereby teaching the transmission of requests to connect to an event. Finally, Petitioner asserted that Altman provided the claimed location-based features. Altman taught a location-based social network manager that uses GPS data from mobile devices to determine a user's current location relative to events, enabling the creation of user groups (projections) based on their distance from an event.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA starting with Kraft’s general network would have been motivated to add more sophisticated event management features to improve its utility. Petitioner argued a POSITA would combine Nguyen’s well-understood invitation and RSVP tracking system to facilitate event planning within Kraft’s framework. To further enhance the system, a POSITA would incorporate Altman’s teachings on using dynamic GPS data. This would allow for more relevant, real-time event invitations and user grouping, an improvement over Kraft’s reliance on static, user-entered location data.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner asserted a POSITA would have had a reasonable expectation of success because the combination involved integrating known functionalities (event invitations, GPS tracking) using conventional network components (servers, databases, client devices) taught by all three references. The integration would yield the predictable result of a location-aware, event-centric social network.

Ground 2: Claims 1-12 are obvious over Wong, Burfeind, and Crowley.

  • Prior Art Relied Upon: Wong (Application # 2008/0103784), Burfeind (Application # 2007/0233635), and Crowley (Application # 2006/0270419).
  • Core Argument for this Ground:
    • Prior Art Mapping: Petitioner argued that Wong provided the base multi-dimensional social network, describing a network of nodes representing various entities (people, places, objects) linked by different relationship types. Wong explicitly taught that its network could be enhanced with various "social networking features." Burfeind supplied the core event organization functionality, teaching a system where an organizer uses a central device to schedule a location-specific event and send invitations to users. This combination established the creation of an event node within a larger network. Petitioner contended that Crowley added the element of creating a projection based on geographic proximity. Crowley taught a location-based system that automatically identifies and sends invitations to a user's contacts who are geographically proximate to an event venue.
    • Motivation to Combine: A POSITA would have been motivated to add well-known event-organizing capabilities to Wong’s foundational social network to enhance its functionality, as suggested by Wong itself. Burfeind’s system for scheduling and managing events was a known technique that a POSITA would readily integrate. Furthermore, Petitioner argued that a POSITA would have been motivated to combine Crowley to overcome the known inefficiency of manual invitation systems like Burfeind’s. Crowley’s automated, location-based invitations offered a clear advantage by enabling "spontaneous socializing" and targeting users most likely to attend an event.
    • Expectation of Success: Petitioner claimed success would have been predictable. The combination involved applying a known technique (location-based invitations from Crowley) to improve a similar, known system (the event-organizing social network of Wong and Burfeind). The underlying technologies were conventional, and the result—an improved, automated event invitation system—was the expected outcome of the combination.

4. Relief Requested

  • Petitioner requests the institution of an inter partes review and the cancellation of claims 1-12 of Patent 12,336,052 as unpatentable.