A California court has ruled in favour of streaming service Netflix after agreeing that five patents owned by entertainment technology company Rovi are invalid.
The US District Court for the Northern District of California granted Netflix’s motion for summary judgment yesterday, July 15.
Four of the disputed patents covered interactive programme guides for online streaming services, with the fifth covering technology that bookmarks online TV shows.
In 2011, Netflix filed for a summary judgment that five patents owned by Rovi were invalid on the grounds that they were abstract. Rovi counterclaimed by alleging that Netflix had infringed the patents.
But citing decisions in Mayo v Prometheus and Alice v CLS Bank, Judge Phyllis Hamilton ruled that the patents were too abstract and therefore invalid.
On the four patents directed to interactive programme guides, Hamilton said they failed to “disclose an inventive concept”.
In reviewing the claims of the bookmarking patent, Hamilton said the patent’s claims were nothing more than “‘routine, ‘conventional’ activity that was expressly rejected in Alice and Mayo”.
Hamilton concluded that her findings rendered Rovi’s infringement claim “moot”.
But Rovi said it will appeal against the decision.
Samir Armaly, vice president of IP and licensing at the company, said: “We are disappointed in, and strongly disagree with, the court’s decision finding the patents invalid and plan to appeal that decision.”
Netflix had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication, but we will update the story should the company get in touch.
Netflix; Rovi; patents; US District Court for the Northern District of California; Samir Armaly