Opinion ID: 1039452
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: TT owns a number of related patents generally di- rected to software used for electronic trading on a commodities exchange, including the ’411, ’768, ’374, and ’055 patents at issue in this appeal. Issued between March 2010 and March 2011, those four patents claim priority  Honorable Dee V. Benson, District Judge, United States District Court for the District of Utah, sitting by designation. TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 5 from U.S. Provisional Patent Application 60/186,322, filed on March 2, 2000, and U.S. Patent Application 09/590,692, which was filed on June 9, 2000, and later issued as U.S. Patent 6,772,132 (the “’132 patent”) on August 3, 2004. The ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents all arose from a series of continuation applications stemming from the parent ’132 patent. See, e.g., ’411 patent, at [63]. Accordingly, the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents share a common written description matching that of the progenitor ’132 patent in all material respects. In contrast, the ’055 patent traces its priority from the ’132 patent as a continuation-in-part, see ’055 patent, at [63], and as such, the ’055 patent contains substantial new matter relative to the original written description of the ’132 patent. In general, the subject TT patents concern a graphical user interface that can display essential data from a commodities market and allow a user to enter electronic trade orders on an exchange. Drawings common to the ’411, ’768, ’374, and ’055 patents exemplify several key aspects of the disclosed displays: 6 TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC E.g., ’411 patent, figs. 3, 4. Figure 3 depicts a trading display that conveys up-to-date market information, including the pending bids and offers at various price points. Column 1005, labeled “Prc,” represents various contract prices for the commodity of interest. Id. col. 7 ll. 55–58. Adjacent to the price column are bid and ask columns 1003 and 1004, labeled “BidQ” and “AskQ,” respectively. Those columns show the current bid quantities (offers to buy) and ask quantities (offers to sell) at each price, id. col. 7 ll. 54–55, and a trader can enter new trade orders by clicking on the bid and ask columns, id. col. 10 ll. 19–23. The “inside market,” labeled 1020, spans the highest current bid price and the lowest current ask price. Id. col. 4 ll. 60–62. In general, the inside market approximates the commodity’s market price and therefore marks a focus of trading activity. In figure 3, the inside market includes a highest bid price of 89 and a lowest ask price of 90. Figure 4 shows the same display, with data for the same market, viewed at a later point in time. ’411 patent col. 3 ll. 47–48. Over time, the inside market can “ascend and descend as prices in the market increase and decrease.” Id. col. 9 ll. 4–5. As illustration, the inside market in figure 4, labeled 1101, has shifted up the price column to 92/93 from its earlier range of 89/90 in response to intervening trades. According to the patents, traders able to view and quickly appreciate such detailed market data can more readily identify (and capitalize upon) developing trends in an active market. Id. col. 6 ll. 12–30. To that end, the disclosed graphical user interfaces offer a logical and intuitive means to convey dynamic market information using bid, ask, and inside market indicators that visually track ongoing price fluctuations along the price column. Moreover, the patents combine a market grid, a summary of market orders, and an order entry system into a single display. In short, “[s]uch a condensed display materially TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 7 simplifies the trading system by entering and tracking trades in an extremely efficient manner.” Id. col. 7 ll. 40– 42. Nonetheless, allowing the inside market to move up and down the display presents a problem: “As the market ascends or descends the price column, the inside market might go above or below the price column displayed on a trader’s screen.” Id. col. 9 ll. 15–17. Because the inside market informs most trading decisions, the display must provide a way to re-center the price column and bring the inside market back into view. The parent ’132 written description shared by the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents explains that the values in the price column “are static; that is, they do not normally change positions unless a recentering command is received,” id. col. 7 ll. 64–66, and further describes a “one click” centering feature that allows a user to re-center the price column around the inside market with a single mouse click, id. col. 9 ll. 17– 25.
As noted, this appeal is not the first to reach this court concerning TT’s trading software patents. In eSpeed, we considered, inter alia, the correct construction of certain claim terms used in the ’132 patent and in another of its many descendants, U.S. Patent 6,766,304 (the “’304 patent”). The ’304 patent, like the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents, shares the written description of the parent ’132 patent.1 In eSpeed, TT had asserted claims from the ’132 and ’304 patents against several providers of electronic trading software. 595 F.3d at 1347–48. Each of the asserted 1 The ’304 patent issued from a division of the application underlying the ’132 patent. ’304 patent, at [62]. 8 TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC claims required a graphical user interface having a “static” display of market price information,2 and the district court had construed that term to require “a display of prices comprising price levels that do not change positions unless a manual re-centering command is received.” Id. at 1352. On appeal, TT argued that a “static” price column could work with non-manual modes of re-centering. Id. at 1353. Relying on the ’132 and ’304 patents’ shared written description, the surrounding claim language, and the relevant prosecution history, we adopted the district court’s construction. See id. at 1353–55. In particular, we concluded that “[t]he inventors’ own specification strongly suggests that the claimed re-centering feature is manual” because the written description “only discusse[d] manual re-centering commands” and referred to “the present invention” as including a manual one-click re-centering feature. Id. at 1353–54. Consistent with that view, we also noted that the claims of the ’132 patent recited an additional limitation stating that the “static” price display would not move in response to changes in the inside market, expressly excluding displays that re-center automatically when the inside market shifts. Id. at 1354. Finally, we highlighted statements made by the applicants during prosecution. Specifically, the examiner had first considered the term “static display” to be indefinite, but the applicants responded by explaining that the values in the price column would not change absent a re- 2 The asserted claims of the ’132 patent required a “static display of prices,” while the asserted claims of the ’304 patent required a “common static price axis.” The eSpeed claim construction debate nonetheless turned on the meaning of “static” because all agreed that “the difference in terminology between ‘static display of prices’ and ‘common static price axis’ [was] immaterial.” eSpeed, 595 F.3d at 1352. TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 9 centering command, and the claims were then allowed on that basis. Id. at 1354. Accordingly, the full record before us in eSpeed led us to conclude that the proper construction of “static,” as used in the claims of the ’132 and ’304 patents, required a price column that moves only in response to a manual re-centering command. In addition, we rejected TT’s attempts to invoke the doctrine of equivalents to find that products practicing automatic re-centering nonetheless infringed its claims to “static” displays. See id. at 1355–57. We held that prosecution history estoppel precluded such infringement theories because the applicants had amended the claims of the ’132 and ’304 patents to make clear that the claimed “static” price levels did not move in response to changes in the inside market, thus “surrender[ing] any subject matter that moves automatically.” Id. at 1357. Thus, in eSpeed, “both claim construction and prosecution history estoppel operate[d] . . . with similar limited results.” Id. C. Prosecution of the ’411, ’768, ’374, and ’055 Patents While the eSpeed litigation progressed through the courts, four patent applications that eventually became the ’411, ’768, ’374, and ’055 patents were filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. TT followed two distinct approaches to prosecuting those applications in view of eSpeed. Those approaches are key to the resolution of this appeal.
With the applications for the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents—three parallel continuations that relied on the original written description of the ’132 patent—TT sought claims that removed the term “static” from references to the price column. For example, following the district court’s adverse claim construction determinations in the 10 TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC eSpeed litigation,3 TT amended the application for the ’411 patent. Up to that time, the application had claimed methods requiring “statically” displayed market price information, similar to the claims of the related ’132 and ’304 patents at issue in eSpeed. But TT’s amendment cancelled every pending claim and introduced new claims that lacked the term “static” in any form, and that term remained absent from the claims issued in the ’411 patent. In addition, TT made comparable amendments to the co-pending applications that gave rise to the ’768 and ’374 patents. Therefore, while the written descriptions of the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents match those of the earlier ’132 and ’304 patents, the claims differ between the two groups in at least one key respect—unlike the ’132 and ’304 patents at issue in eSpeed, the ’411, ’768, and ’374 patents claim trading methods and software without limitation to a “static” price column display.
TT pursued a different strategy with the application for the ’055 patent. That application claimed priority from the ’132 patent as a continuation-in-part, which allowed TT to add new disclosures to the parent’s written description. In part, those additional disclosures were aimed at redefining the term “static” as used in the ’055 patent: 3 In that case, the district court issued an initial claim construction ruling on October 31, 2006, and then issued another order clarifying its original construction on February 21, 2007. Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. eSpeed, Inc., Nos. 04-c-5312, 05-c-1079, 05-c-4088, 05-c-4120, 05-c- 4811, 05-c-5164, 2006 WL 3147697 (N.D. Ill. Oct. 31, 2006), clarified, 2007 WL 611258 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 21, 2007). TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 11 Certain of the trading tools work particularly well with a trading display that shows working orders . . . displayed in association with a static price scale or axis. . . . It is to be understood that, in this context, static does not mean immovable, but rather means fixed in relation. For example, with a stat- ic price scale, the scale itself may be movable, but the prices represented remain fixed in relation to each other . . . . ’055 patent col. 4 ll. 48–57 (emphases added); see also id. col. 25 ll. 4–12 (“In one embodiment, the trading application tracks the market’s activity by automatically centering, for example, the inside market . . . on the display with respect to a static axis or scale of prices.”); id. col. 26 ll. 30–37 (“A trader may use automatic positioning to always have a visual reference of where the market is trading . . . . In addition, automatic positioning may be used in conjunction with manual positioning.”). The claims of the ’055 patent likewise recite steps that include displaying “a static price axis” and “automatically repositioning the static price axis on the graphical user interface.” Id. col. 34 ll. 15–67. By their terms, the claims of the ’055 patent thus require a “static price axis” capable of re-centering via automatic rather than manual commands. D. District Court Proceedings In early 2010, TT filed twelve separate infringement actions targeting numerous defendants, including: Open E Cry, LLC; optionsXpress Holdings, Inc.; TradeStation Securities, Inc.; TradeStation Group, Inc.; IBG, LLC; thinkorswim Group, Inc.; TD Ameritrade, Inc.; TD Ameritrade Holding Corp.; Interactive Brokers, LLC; CQG, Inc.; CQGT, LLC; FuturePath Trading, LLC; SunGard Data Systems, Inc.; SunGard Investment Ventures LLC; GL Trade Americas, Inc.; Stellar Trading Systems, Ltd.; Stellar Trading Systems, Inc.; eSpeed Markets, LP; BGC 12 TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC Capital Markets, LP; Eccoware, Ltd.; and Rosenthal Collins Group, LLC (collectively, “Defendants”).4 Through a series of supplements and amendments to the original complaints, TT variously accused the Defendants of infringing claims from more than ten patents relating to electronic trading software, of which only the ’411, ’768, ’374, and ’055 patents are before us in this appeal. The district court consolidated the cases on February 3, 2011. Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. BGC Partners, Inc., No. 10-cv715 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 3, 2011), ECF No. 70 (Consolidation Order). After consolidation, the parties submitted opposing summary judgment motions on several issues, including whether the claims of the ’411 patent satisfied the written description requirement of 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) in light of eSpeed and whether prosecution history estoppel barred TT from asserting infringement under the doctrine of equivalents as to products with price columns that move automatically. Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. BCG Partners, Inc., 852 F. Supp. 2d 1027, 1029–30 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (“Summary Judgment Order”). First, the district court concluded that eSpeed required holding the claims of the ’411 patent invalid for lack of written description. The court acknowledged that eSpeed did not involve the ’411 patent or the written description requirement and instead dealt primarily with construing the term “static” in the claims of the ’132 and ’304 patents. Id. at 1044. Nevertheless, the district court reasoned that eSpeed “made a number of findings regarding the specification in the course of affirming the claim construction that are dispositive here.” Id. 4 Although a defendant before the district court, Rosenthal Collins Group, LLC is not a party to this appeal. TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 13 According to the district court, eSpeed’s construction of “static” in the ’132 and ’304 patents turned “on the premise that the invention described in the specification was limited to static price axes that move only with manual re-centering.” Id. at 1045. Because the ’411 patent’s claims lacked that term and therefore appeared to cover displays with automatic re-centering, the district court concluded that any decision upholding those broader claims as supported by the same written description “would be at odds with the Federal Circuit’s binding findings in the eSpeed Decision.” Id. In granting the Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the district court expressly declined to evaluate the parties’ evidence or make its own findings on the merits because the court determined “as a matter of law that the eSpeed Decision controls.” Id. at 1038 n.9; see also id. at 1045 n.13. In addition, the district court held that eSpeed’s application of prosecution history estoppel to the ’132 and ’304 patents applied equally to the ’055 patent as a matter of law.5 The court noted that the ’055 patent’s claims “include the limitation of ‘common static price axis,’ just like the ’304 patent, and flow from . . . a similar specification.” Summary Judgment Order, 852 F. Supp. 2d at 1046–47. The court then concluded that when “‘multiple patents derive from the same initial application, the prosecution history regarding a claim limitation in any patent that has issued applies with equal force to subsequently issued patents that contain the same claim limitation.’” Id. at 1046 (quoting Elkay Mfg. Co. v. Ebco Mfg. Co., 192 F.3d 973, 980 (Fed. Cir. 1999)). TT argued that prosecution disclaimers affecting the ’132 and ’304 patents should not automatically limit the ’055 patent, with its distinct and 5 In addition to the ’055 patent, the district court applied prosecution history estoppel to two other related TT patents, but those patents are not included in this appeal. 14 TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC contravening additional disclosures, but the district court disagreed. “That the ’055 patent is only a continuation-inpart makes no difference.” Id. at 1047 n.15. The district court therefore held that TT was estopped from asserting that any claims of the ’055 patent were infringed under the doctrine of equivalents by a product with a price axis that moves automatically. Id. at 1048. Following the Summary Judgment Order, the district court held a status hearing and ordered the parties to file a joint response summarizing the effects of its ruling on each patent in suit. The parties agreed that the decision had rendered the following claims invalid: all claims of the ’411 patent except claim 15, all claims of the ’768 patent, and all claims of the ’374 patent except claims 7 and 11. The parties disagreed, however, on the status of the ’055 patent. The Defendants contended that, in view of eSpeed, the ’055 patent claims remained valid but limited in scope. TT maintained that the ’055 patent’s added disclosures ascribed a different meaning to “static” in that patent relative to those at issue in eSpeed. Therefore, TT asserted, the district court’s Summary Judgment Order, which relied on eSpeed, should not affect the ’055 patent for purposes of prosecution history estoppel or otherwise. The district court issued a subsequent order denying TT’s motion to reconsider the prosecution history estoppel ruling, extending its invalidity holding, and certifying partial judgment for immediate appeal. Trading Techs. Int’l, Inc. v. BCG Partners, Inc., 883 F. Supp. 2d 772 (N.D. Ill. 2012) (“Certification Order”). Specifically, the court reaffirmed its conclusion that prosecution history estoppel applied to the ’055 patent because of eSpeed despite the ’055 patent’s distinct disclosures and prosecution history as a continuation-in-part. Id. at 778–79. And having concluded that eSpeed applied to the ’055 patent, the court decided that its Summary Judgment Order rendered the ’055 patent invalid. Certification Order, 883 F. TRADING TECHNOLOGIES INTL v. OPEN E CRY, LLC 15 Supp. 2d at 781 n.1. The district court also agreed with both parties that its earlier order had largely invalidated the ’768 and ’374 patents as well. Id. at 782–84. Finally, the court found no just reason to delay an appeal as to those issues and therefore entered partial final judgment pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b).6 TT filed a timely appeal, and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).