Opinion ID: 1039452
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The ’055 Continuation-in-Part

Text: 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).