Facts

Free Stream Media, dba Samba TV owns U.S. Patent No. 9,386,356, which claims a system for determining what a person is watching on television and, based on that information, delivering targeted advertisements to the person's mobile device. The patent claims generally require a relevancy-matching server that matches a user's viewership history to relevant digital advertising. Samba filed a patent lawsuit against Alphonso Inc. in relation to its '356 patent.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Samba contended that Alphonso infringed the '356 patent by creating digital advertising campaigns for its customers through a third party DSP called Beeswax. Samba accused Alphonso of infringing through the use of viewership data received from Vizio smart TVs, the Sling application, and Hisense smart TVs.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Alphonso contended that it did not infringe because it did not provide any televisions in its system that collected viewership data and therefore, it did not have a relevancy-matching server communicatively coupled with a television. Defendant also contended that Alphonso employees, not a computer, identified the specific advertisements to be delivered to a user's mobile device in response to a winning bid, so there was no relevancy-matching server at Alphonso. Defendant contended that it did not provide any mobile device to users, which is one of the claimed elements.

Result

The court granted Alphonso's motion for summary judgment of non-infringement on three separate grounds. The court concluded that summary judgment was warranted as to Vizio and Hisense. The court also determined that the actions of Alphonso employees did not constitute the required match performed by the relevancy-matching server. Finally, the court held that Alphonso also did not infringe because it did not provide the claimed mobile device of the user.