Bot M8 LLC v. Sony Corporation Of America

Background

Bot M8 LLC, identified in the order as the patent owner, sued Sony Corporation of America and other defendants for allegedly infringing six patents: U.S. Patent Nos. 8,078,540, 8,095,990, 7,664,988, 8,112,670, 7,338,363, and 7,497,777. The patents generally concern casino, arcade, and video games. The ’540, ’990, ’988, and ’670 patents were asserted against the Sony PlayStation 4. The ’363 patent was asserted against the PlayStation 4 and MLB The Show 19, Uncharted 4, and Uncharted: the Lost Legacy. The order also addressed a ’777 patent claim involving God of War.

After the court directed Bot M8 to amend its complaint and identify every allegedly infringed claim element, Bot M8 filed an amended complaint. The defendants moved to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), which permits dismissal when a complaint does not allege enough factual matter to state a legally plausible claim. The court emphasized that it was evaluating only the specific pleading deficiencies defendants challenged, not the sufficiency of the entire complaint.

Patent-by-patent analysis

’540 patent

The ’540 patent concerns an authentication mechanism for video games. Defendants argued that Bot M8 had not plausibly alleged that the game program and authentication program were stored together in memory on a board different from the motherboard.

The court rejected Bot M8’s arguments based on the PlayStation 4’s offline authentication, its hard drive, Blu-ray game discs and their “ROM Mark,” error codes, and PlayStation Network servers. The court found that these allegations did not plausibly identify where the programs were stored together on the required memory board. Because patent infringement requires every claim limitation to be practiced, the court held that the ’540 infringement claim failed.

’990 patent

The ’990 patent concerns mutual authentication for video games. Defendants argued that the complaint did not plausibly allege that the mutual-authentication program and gaming information were stored together as required.

The court found that Bot M8’s allegations concerning the authentication program, the PlayStation 4’s NOR flash memory chip, communication with the PlayStation Network server, and storage of programs on flash memory did not identify when or where the required materials were stored together. The court therefore held that the ’990 infringement claims failed.

’988 and ’670 patents

The ’988 and ’670 patents concern inspecting computer programs and memory for faults before a game begins. The court found that the complaint plausibly alleged inspection of both the memory device and the game program, based in part on allegations concerning PlayStation 4 error codes and games stored on hard drives and Blu-ray discs.

The court nevertheless found that the complaint did not plausibly allege that the inspection was completed before the game started. The relevant allegation merely tracked the patent claim language and lacked supporting facts. The court held that an essential element of the ’988 and ’670 infringement claims was missing.

’363 patent

The ’363 patent concerns receiving and using game-result data from multiple networked gaming devices. Defendants argued that the complaint did not plausibly allege that the PlayStation 4 received game results from a server or combined game data from multiple devices.

The court found the allegations sufficient at the pleading stage. The complaint alleged that PlayStation 4 consoles communicated through the PlayStation Network server during online multiplayer gaming and included screenshots showing player performance grades, ratings, and multiplayer results in the Uncharted games and MLB: The Show 19. The court concluded that these allegations plausibly described receiving and compiling game-result data. It denied the motion to dismiss as to the ’363 patent.

’777 patent

The ’777 patent concerns calculating and displaying the action order of game characters and allowing a character to act outside that order when a specified condition occurs.

For the two Uncharted games, the complaint alleged that allied characters received displayed orders but could deviate from those orders under circumstances such as enemy gunfire. The court held that the claim could proceed against those games. For God of War, however, the alleged trigger was the player’s real-time command rather than a predetermined condition that changed the character’s execution order. The claim against God of War therefore failed.

Disposition

The court granted in part and denied in part the defendants’ motion to dismiss. It denied the motion as to the ’363 patent and the ’777 patent claim against the Uncharted games. It granted the motion as to the remainder of the challenged claims. The claims for infringement of the ’540, ’990, ’988, and ’670 patents, and the ’777 patent claim concerning God of War, were dismissed. The order did not state that these dismissals were with or without prejudice.

The court stated that Bot M8 had already received one amendment and had been given clear instructions to plead its case element by element. It allowed Bot M8 to move for permission to file another amended complaint by February 13 at noon, but only on the condition that Bot M8 pay all reasonable fees and expenses incurred by defendants in responding to another amended complaint. Any such motion had to include a redlined proposed amendment showing all changes from the amended complaint.