Snap Inc and Facebook move to dismiss Blackberry patent claims

Snap Inc, parent company of Snapchat, and Facebook have filed two separate motions to dismiss patent infringement claims that Blackberry made against the companies.

In March, Blackberry filed a lawsuit against Snap at the US District Court for the Central District of California, alleging that it infringed patents relating to its messaging service.

The patents in question include “Handheld electronic device and associated method providing time data in a messaging environment” (8,301,713) and “Previewing a new event on a small screen device” (8,209,634).

Blackberry also sued Facebook and its subsidiaries Instagram and WhatsApp at the same district court in March, claiming that the social media platforms infringed its ‘634 and ‘713 patents.

In addition, it claimed that the companies infringed its “System and method for switching between an instant messaging conversation and a game in progress” patent (8,677,250) and “System and method for silencing notifications for a message threat” (9,349,120).

Snap, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp filed the motions to dismiss at the Central District of California Western Division on June 7.

Snap and Facebook both argued that the patents show no “inventive concept”, do not solve a technical problem, and “add nothing of substance to the underlying abstract idea”. Therefore, the claims should be dismissed, they said.

According to Snap’s motion to dismiss, the claims in the patents only invoke generic and well-known computing elements.

“The specifications concede that the patents do not describe concrete improvements to computer or networking technology. In these circumstances, there are no disputed facts for the court to resolve.”

Facebook argued that it could not have wilfully infringed the patents. For claims to rely on wilful infringement, “the patentee must show that the infringement was an ‘egregious case of misconduct beyond typical infringement’”.

Facebook also argued that Blackberry did not provide any factual support that the social media company was engaged in “egregious” conduct.

Snap and Facebook asked the court to dismiss all of Blackberry’s claims, with Facebook asking the court to rule that the patents are invalid.