Opinion ID: 2683357
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: PRACH Preamble (Decision on Summary Judgment)

Text: On appeal, GBT argues that there is a disputed issue of material fact that precluded summary judgment of noninfringement because the claims do not rule out the signature sequence alone is the preamble. He opined that the signature sequence was spread by the scrambling code, but like GBT’s infringement contentions, GBT’s expert opined that the PRACH preamble was the preamble which satisfied the claim term preamble. 12 GOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. spreading during generation of the preamble. It argues that the accused devices spread the PRACH preamble during generation—in other words, the signature sequence is spread by the scrambling code to create the PRACH preamble. GBT contends that the claim language covers spreading the preamble either during generation or after the preamble has been generated. We hold that the district court properly granted summary judgment of noninfringement. The preamble must be “spread prior to transmission.” The PRACH preamble is not spread. The signature sequence is spread by the scrambling code to create the PRACH preamble. See Appellant’s Br. 63–64. This step cannot constitute spreading the PRACH preamble because a preamble cannot be spread before it exists. Because there is no dispute that the PRACH preamble is not spread, it cannot meet the preamble limitations in the asserted claims. The district court properly granted summary judgment of noninfringement on this basis. 2. Signature Sequence (Decision on Reconsideration) GBT also argues that the district court erred by declining to modify its judgment of noninfringement on reconsideration. GBT’s argument is two-fold. First, it contends that it did not waive its signature sequence infringement theory because that theory was not introduced for the first time in its motion for reconsideration. Second, on the merits, GBT argues that there is a genuine issue of material fact with respect to infringement based on its theory that the signature sequence in the accused devices meets the preamble limitations. Apple responds that GBT waived its signature se- quence theory by failing to present and support it at summary judgment. It argues that the only infringement theory GBT presented prior to its motion for reconsideration was that the PRACH preamble, not the signature sequence, in the accused devices met the preamble limitaGOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. 13 tions. It argues that GBT should not be allowed to abandon its infringement arguments and present new ones after an adverse ruling on summary judgment. On the merits, Apple contends that there is no genuine issue of material fact with respect to infringement because the signature sequence is not “a signal for communicating with the base station,” as required by the court’s construction of preamble. We conclude that the district court properly refused to grant the relief GBT requested in its motion for reconsideration. An argument made for the first time in a motion for reconsideration comes too late and is ordinarily deemed waived. Bluebonnet Sav. Bank, F.S.B. v. United States, 466 F.3d 1349, 1361 (Fed. Cir. 2006); Caldwell v. United States, 391 F.3d 1226, 1235 (Fed. Cir. 2004); Hazani v. U.S. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 126 F.3d 1473, 1476– 77 (Fed. Cir. 1997). Indeed, new arguments are beyond the scope of a motion for reconsideration. “Such motions are not to be used as an opportunity to relitigate the case; rather, they may be used only to correct manifest errors of law or fact or to present newly discovered evidence.” Blystone v. Horn, 664 F.3d 397, 415 (3d Cir. 2011). We conclude that GBT’s signature sequence infringement theory was raised for the first time in its motion for reconsideration. Prior to its motion for reconsideration, GBT did not argue that the signature sequence alone in the accused device was itself a preamble, but instead that the PRACH preamble met the preamble limitations in the claims. Having failed to persuade the court that a genuine issue of material fact remained with respect to its PRACH preamble infringement theory, GBT presented a new infringement theory on reconsideration. This was improper. See Finnigan Corp. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, 180 F.3d 1354, 1363 (Fed. Cir. 1999) (“A party’s argument should not be a moving target.”); Bhatnagar v. Surrendra Overseas Ltd., 52 F.3d 1220, 1231 (3d Cir. 1995) (rejecting a motion for reconsideration as a “second bite at the 14 GOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. apple” and explaining that “[h]aving failed in its first effort to persuade the court,” the plaintiff “simply changed theories and tried again”); Senza-Gel Corp. v. Seiffhart, 803 F.3d 661, 663–64 (Fed. Cir. 1986) (“[A] motion for reconsideration is not a chance at a second bite” and should not “enable the movant to ‘sandbag’ an adversary.”). It would be fundamentally unfair to allow GBT, after losing the claim construction arguments at issue and the summary judgment on its infringement contentions, to change those contentions. Though parties can certainly argue in the alternative, their infringement contentions cannot be a moving target. We agree with Apple that GBT did not argue that the signature sequence alone constituted the accused preamble. It is too late to do so for the first time in a motion for reconsideration. Throughout the litigation, GBT’s filings with the district court and its expert report identified only the PRACH preamble as meeting the preamble limitations in the asserted claims. GBT’s expert explained “[t]he PRACH preamble is composed of two spreading codes [signature sequence and scrambling code] without message data.” J.A. 213. “[I]n the Accused Devices each access preamble is composed of two spreading codes [PRACH signature code and PRACH scrambling code] without message data.” J.A. 225. “[E]ach access preamble is formed by combining one of the available preamble signatures with the preamble scrambling code specific to the base station. The combination of an available preamble signature and scrambling code specific to the base station results in an access preamble.” J.A. 241. Moreover, at the hearing, GBT characterized its expert as opining that the PRACH preamble was the preamble in the accused device. See, e.g., J.A. 3081 (explaining GBT’s expert’s methodology and stating that “the random access preamble code is formed from the preamble scrambling code and the preamble signature”). In fact, GBT cited in its summary judgment briefs, as support for the proposiGOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. 15 tion that the PRACH preamble is the accused preamble, the very same paragraphs of the expert report that GBT now claims on appeal stand for the assertion that the signature sequence is the accused preamble. Compare J.A. 3341–42 (citing J.A. 225–26, ¶74), with Appellant’s Br. at 52 (citing J.A. 225–26, ¶74). On appeal, GBT argues that the district court erred in its conclusion that its expert opinion “does not specifically address GBT’s current contention that the signature sequence alone constitutes a signal for communicating with the base station.” Appellant’s Br. at 52 (quoting Summary Judgment Order, at 525 n.7). We see no error in the district court’s interpretation of GBT’s expert testimony. We have reviewed the opinion cited by GBT and agree with the district court that GBT’s expert did not opine that the signature sequence alone constituted the accused preamble. The expert opinion repeatedly characterized the preamble as containing two codes (signature and scrambling). Though the expert referred to the “preamble signature,” he also referred throughout to the “preamble scrambling code.” See, e.g., J.A. 213–15, ¶¶48–49; J.A. 225–26, ¶¶74–76; J.A. 240, ¶107. GBT’s expert opined that these two codes (signature and scrambling), which constitute the PRACH preamble in the accused device, together satisfy the preamble term. Though GBT’s expert was at times inconsistent with his nomenclature, he did not make the alternative argument that the signature sequence of the accused device alone satisfies the preamble term. Even GBT’s infringement contentions identified only the PRACH preamble as meeting the preamble limitation in the claims. “In the Accused Devices, each access preamble is composed of two spreading codes without message data.” See J.A. 298–99. The preamble or the access preamble is always identified as the combination of the preamble scrambling code and the preamble signature 16 GOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. sequence (also sometimes referred to as the preamble signature signal). On appeal, GBT suggests that Apple’s own interrogatory response combined with Apple’s own expert report establish that GBT raised its signature sequence infringement theory prior to its motion for reconsideration. Apple’s interrogatory response indicates that GBT alleged that the preamble limitation is met by the RACH/PRACH preamble part described in various sections of the standard. J.A. 528. It is not clear that this response is an admission that GBT argued that the signature sequence alone is the preamble in the accused device. And we cannot find, nor has GBT directed us to, argument and evidence that the signature sequence is the preamble. GBT’s argument regarding Apple’s expert is likewise insufficient to establish that GBT raised its signature sequence infringement theory before its motion for reconsideration. Apple’s expert did not opine that the signature sequence constitutes the preamble. At most, he noted in multiple places that GBT’s expert was inconsistent in his use of the term preamble. J.A. 635, ¶154; J.A. 638, ¶162. He stated: “Dr. Vojcic’s absence of a clear and consistent identification of what he considers to be meeting the claimed ‘preamble’ is of critical importance.” J.A. 639, ¶162. Apple’s expert addressed all the possible ways that GBT’s expert could be arguing that the preamble term is met in the accused device: (1) each signature, (2) the 256-fold repetition of these signatures, and (3) the combination of the signature sequence and the scrambling code. J.A. 637–40. Apple’s expert opined that under any of those interpretations Apple’s device does not meet the preamble limitation. This testimony by Apple’s expert, about GBT’s expert’s confusing and inconsistent nomenclature, does not establish that GBT’s signature sequence theory was not new. Like the district court, we have reviewed the arguments and evidence submitted by GBT, including their expert report, and we conclude that it did GOLDEN BRIDGE TECHNOLOGY v. APPLE INC. 17 not argue that the signature sequence in the accused device is itself the preamble. This argument was thus waived. Because we conclude that GBT waived the signature sequence argument, we do not pass judgment on whether the signature sequence is a signal used for communicating with the base station that is spread before transmission.