IP Law Daily, PATENT—E.D. Tex.: Claims relating to avoiding congestion in a video stream were not invalid for being directed to an abstract idea, (Apr 3, 2025)

By Kevin M. Finson, J.D.

Patent claims relating to video transmission over a computer were not unpatentable for being directed to an abstract idea because it described specific technological improvements to computer networks.

A patentee’s asserted patent claims relating to a system for selectively forwarding different layers of data in a video stream depending on the available bandwidth were not directed to a patent-ineligible abstract idea un 35 U.S.C. §101, the U.S. District Court in Sherman, Texas, has held. The claims described specific improvements to computer networks, not the use of generic computer components to carry out an abstract idea (Scale Video Coding LLC v. Cisco Systems, Inc., No. 4:23-cv-00803-SDJ (E.D. Tex. Apr. 2, 2025)).

Scale Video Coding, LLC (SVC) was the owner of U.S. Patent No. 11,019,372 (the ’372 patent), which was directed to a multicasting system for transmitting data streams over a network, and specifically claimed a system for prioritizing layers of a stream in order to reduce congestion. For example, a video stream could encode multiple quality layers so that if the network was too congested to allow all of the data through, a standard-definition transmission could be received in its entirety, rather than fragmented portions of a high-definition transmission.

SVC brought suit for infringement alleging that Cisco Systems, Inc. (Cisco) infringed claims 1, 2, 6, 7, 11, and 12. Cisco moved to dismiss, arguing that the asserted claims were invalid for being directed at an unpatentable abstract idea. The court applied the two-step Alice test.

Abstract idea. Cisco argued that the asserted claims were directed to the abstract idea of adjusting the amount of video information transmitted to a router based on bandwidth. The court found that this was an over-simplified abstraction of the claimed invention.

Cisco also argued that the claimed components were well-known and conventional, specifically alleging that a line in a provisional patent application described the selective forwarding of different layers of a data stream as “an active area of research.” While Cisco saw this language as implying that the selective forwarding was already known in the art, the court interpreted an “active area of research” as meaning that the art was not settled.

Ultimately, the court concluded that the claims were highly specific and focused on technological improvement to computer networks. Accordingly, they were not directed to an unpatentable abstract idea.

Because it found the asserted claims were not directed to an abstract idea, the court denied the motion to dismiss without reaching step two of the Alice test.

The Case is No. 4:23-cv-00803-SDJ.

Judge: Jordan, S.

Attorneys: Joel William Glazer (Devlin Law Firm LLC) for Scale Video Coding LLC. Krishnan Padmanabhan (Winston & Strawn LLP) for Cisco Systems, Inc.

Companies: Scale Video Coding LLC; Cisco Systems, Inc.

Cases: Patent TechnologyInternet TexasNews