Adobe Systems Inc. v. Wowza Media Systems, LLC

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO DISMISS

Re: Dkt. No.

Defendants Wowza Media Systems, LLC and Coffee Cup Partners, Inc. (“Wowza”) move to dismiss Count I and Count II of Plaintiff Adobe Systems Incorporated’s action for patent infringement. Wowza argues that these counts: represent an attempt to re-litigate decisions made by this Court in another patent infringement action between the same parties, ll-cv-2243-JST (“WowzaI”); constitute an impermissible collateral attack on a court order; are barred by the prohibition on claim splitting; and violate the Kessler doctrine. Adobe responds that the Court’s order in Wowza I merely sought to limit the scope of that litigation, but did not bar Adobe from bringing other infringement actions against Wowza for conduct not covered by Wowza I.

For the reasons set forth below, the Court agrees with Adobe, and will deny Defendants’ motion.

I. BACKGROUND

This is the second action in which Adobe is suing Wowza for infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,051,287 (“the '287 patent”) and 7,961,878 (“the '878 patent”) (“the patents at issue”). Wowza I, filed on May 6, 2011, concerns four patents — including the two patents at issue — that Adobe alleges…