Optima filed the suit in 2003 against Roxio, the company behind
the re-launch of the Napster brand as a licensed seller of digital
music. Optima accused Roxio of inducing or contributing to the
infringement of Optima’s patent rights by making and selling
software that enables others to use the patented technology.
Sonic Solutions, which bought Roxio's consumer software division
last year (at which time Roxio announced that it was changing its
own name to Napster), said on Wednesday that it has been granted
summary judgment but Optima immediately vowed to appeal.
Judge James Selna in the US District Court for the Central
District of California concluded that "no reasonable fact finder
could find infringement" of Optima's patent through the
software.
"While we assume that Optima will appeal its loss, we are
gratified that the Court has so thoroughly validated our position
in rejecting Optima's claims,” said Paul Norris, Sonic's Senior
Vice President and General Counsel. “We now plan to assess and
pursue any claims we have against Optima with all appropriate
vigour."
Optima was highly critical of Judge Selna.
“We feel this is a prime example of how a judge can make a
mistake by not following his own prior rulings which lay out the
ground rules related to terms in intellectual property cases," said
CEO Robert Adams. "For a judge to simply adopt terms not laid out
in his own Markman ruling is senseless."
In a Markman ruling, a judge provides clarification and
interpretations of complex patent claims. Optima says that Judge
Selna ignored his own Markman ruling and followed Roxio's
statements instead – which Optima considers incorrect.
Optima is appealing the ruling to the Federal Court of
Appeals.
Adams said, "If Judge Selna did not feel up to the legal and
technical challenges of our case, he should have had it assigned to
another Judge instead of kicking it upstairs for the Court of
Appeals to deal with. This further clogs our courts and appeals
systems."
Optima will ask the Federal Court of Appeals to overturn Judge
Selna's decision and to impose a temporary restraining order to bar
Napster, Roxio and Sonic Solutions from again merging and/or
selling parts of their companies.
