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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`____________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`____________
`
`MARKER VOLKL USA, INC.,
`Petitioner,
`
`v.
`
`KNEEBINDING INC.,
`Patent Owner.
`____________
`
`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`___________
`
`Record of Oral Hearing
`Held: June 25, 2018
`____________
`
`
`
`Before MICHAEL W. KIM, PATRICK R. SCANLON, and MATTHEW S.
`MEYERS, Administrative Patent Judges.
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`
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`
`APPEARANCES:
`
`ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONR:
`
`PATRICK D. MCPHERSON, ESQUIRE
`
`ANTHONY J. FITZPATRICK, ESQUIRE
`
`CAROLYN A. ALENCI, ESQUIRE
`
`Duane Morris, LLP
`
`505 9th Street, N.W.
`
`Suite 1000
`
`Washington, D.C. 20004
`
`
`
` BEHALF OF THE PATENT OWNER:
`
`
`
`
`
`
`
`BRADLEY T. FOX, ESQUIRE
`Fox Law Group LLC
`528C Main Avenue
`Durango, CO 81301
`
`
`The above-entitled matter came on for hearing on Monday, June 25,
`2018, commencing at 2:01 p.m., at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,
`600 Dulany Street, Alexandria, Virginia, before Chris Hofer, Notary Public.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
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`P R O C E E D I N G S
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`JUDGE KIM: So welcome everybody. This is the oral
`hearing for IPR2017-01265, Marker Volkl, USA v. Kneebinding
`Inc. I am Michael Kim and on the screen with us we have Judge
`Patrick Scanlon and Judge Matthew Meyers. So then if we could
`start with appearances from counsel starting with Petitioner,
`please.
`MR. MCPHERSON: Good afternoon, Your Honors.
`Patrick McPherson from the law firm of Duane Morris for the
`Petitioners. With me is Tony Fitzpatrick who will be making the
`argument on behalf of Petitioner today, and Carolyn Alenci, both
`from the Duane Morris law firm, and with us is a client
`representative from Marker, Mr. Otto Harsanyi.
`JUDGE KIM: Thank you very much.
`MR. MCPHERSON: Thank you.
`JUDGE KIM: And Patent Owner.
`MR. FOX: Good afternoon, Your Honors. My name is
`Bradley Fox and I'm representing Kneebinding, Inc. I'm from
`Fox Law group, and with me today is John Springer-Miller from
`Kneebinding Inc., the Patent Owner.
`JUDGE KIM: Thank you. Welcome. So a few
`housekeeping things. Under the Hearing Order each side will be
`given 60 minutes oral argument. Because Petitioner has the
`burden on ultimate issues, we're going to start with Petitioner
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`who will make their initial case, then move to Patent Owner who
`will use the entirety or as much of the 60 minutes they would
`like and anything Petitioner would like to reserve for rebuttal,
`they will have the last say at the end.
`Just general logistics. As you can see because Judges
`Scanlon and Meyers are remote, they cannot see what is on the
`screen so please just make sure when you're speaking to identify
`which slide you are talking about. They do have copies of the
`slides and they can follow on if we are very diligent about that.
`Also for members, counsel and also the audience for in and
`outs, the only thing we ask is that if you do need to exit or enter
`please limit those to when counsel changes speaking to be as
`least disruptive as possible, and last but not least one thing I
`noticed was that Patent Owner you only emailed the
`demonstratives to the Board, they were not filed or at least we
`couldn't find them in the online record. So we just ask that in
`the next few days if you could please go ahead and upload those
`to the PTAB end-to-end system so they are part of the record,
`we'd appreciate it. Okay, so with that unless there's anything
`else Petitioner's counsel you may come up and approximately
`how much time would you like to reserve for rebuttal?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Approximately 15 minutes, Your
`Honor, and Judge Kim I have, if it would be helpful, a hard copy
`of our slides.
`JUDGE KIM: Sure.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`MR. FITZPATRICK: If I may approach?
`JUDGE KIM: Yes.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Thank you.
`JUDGE KIM: Thank you very much.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: So, as my colleague Mr. McPherson
`indicated my name is Anthony Fitzpatrick. I'm going to be
`arguing on behalf of the Petitioner this afternoon.
`Moving to slide 2, this is an overview in general of what
`I'm going to discuss this afternoon. I'll be giving an overview of
`the patent at issue, the 867 patent as well as the two prior art
`references that are at issue in these proceedings and then
`addressing the two grounds -- anticipation of the independent
`claim 1 and the challenged dependent claims 4 and 9 by the
`German patent application which we refer to as DE '298, and
`then obviousness of those same challenged claims over the
`Boussemart 772 reference in view of the German DE '298
`reference -- and I'll be addressing a number of issues, principally
`claim construction issues that have been raised by the Patent
`Owner in the course of my presentation.
`I am going to focus on the issues that are in dispute
`between the parties and so I do not plan, for instance, to address
`the dependent claims separately because the Patent Owner didn't
`address those claims at all in its submissions and therefore we
`would contend has conceded that if claim 1 is unpatentable, then
`the dependent claims are similarly unpatentable.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`JUDGE KIM: Counsel, isn't there still a burden on
`Petitioner however to --
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Certainly, Your Honor.
`JUDGE KIM: -- (indiscernible) your burden with respect to
`dependent claims? I mean it's possible, you know, we try not to
`but we overlook things sometimes so if we look at a dependent
`claim and oh, there's just nothing there, what are we supposed to
`do?
`
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Well, all of the dependent claims
`with respect to both grounds are addressed in our submissions so
`in our petition and in the declaration of our expert, Dr. Shealy,
`those claims individually one by one are addressed with respect
`to both grounds and so we would submit that the written
`submission and the evidence presented with that satisfies our
`burden with respect to those dependent claims.
`JUDGE KIM: Understood, we understand your position.
`Thank you.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Thank you. So moving on to slide
`No. 3. Some background regarding the 867 patent. This patent
`is entitled Alpine Ski Binding Heel Unit. It issued in February
`of 2015 and claims ultimate priority to a provisional application
`that was filed in February of 2003. Two earlier patents in the
`family issued that claim ultimate priority back to that same
`original application and the patent is directed to a multi-
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`directional release alpine ski binding heel unit that releases in a
`vertical and in a lateral direction.
`So moving to slide No. 4, this is figure 2 from the 867
`patent which we have annotated to show and highlight certain
`specific components. This is a side cross-sectional view of the
`principal embodiment that is disclosed in the specification and
`this shows the principal components involved in resisting
`vertical forces. We have the upper heel housing which is No. 16
`depicted in pink which is connected to the lateral release cam 17
`which is depicted in gold, and those two are connected by way of
`a pivot rod 18 which is shown here in red, and then within the
`internal pocket of the upper heel housing there is a spring 21
`shown as an X which pushes down on the cam follower
`component 20 which is illustrated in lavender, and the upper heel
`housing 16 holds and compresses the heel of the ski boot
`downward to oppose upward forces that are generated by the ski
`boot during skiing. So components 33, 54, 32 within the upper
`heel housing, those are the particular components that contact
`the heel of the boot.
`So moving to slide 5, this is an illustrative demonstrative
`exhibit that we prepared to illustrate the interaction between this
`binding and the heel of a ski boot, and prepared for
`demonstrative purposes in connection with this proceeding.
`Then in slide 6 we have figure 4 from the 867 patent and
`this is a top cross-sectional view of the principle components
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`involved in the lateral release and lateral securing and we've
`highlighted here with different colors those main components.
`So we have the lateral release cam 17 which we saw earlier in
`figure 2, here again in figure 4 illustrated in gold. That has cam
`surfaces 17C and those are biased or forced against opposing
`cam surfaces of the lower heel component. The lateral spring
`biasing component 52 includes a spring 35, again illustrated with
`an X, that is placed in compression by the opposing force of
`tension shaft parts 36A and B, and the connector rod. So those
`are shown respectively in orange and light blue. So in general
`terms those are the principal components of the embodiment
`that's disclosed in the specification.
`Moving to slide 7, as the Board is aware this IPR has been
`instituted on two grounds. The first ground, as I mentioned, is
`anticipation of the challenged claims in view of the German
`reference and then as shown in slide 8 the second ground is
`obviousness over the German reference and the Boussemart 772
`reference.
`Moving to slide 9. I'd like to spend some time addressing a
`couple of claim construction issues that are raised by the Patent
`Owner's response and really I think the Patent Owner's response
`to the petition largely hinges on these two specific arguments
`that they're making.
`In slide 10 we've depicted claim 1 of the patent. It's got a
`preamble clause. A vector decoupling assembly for separating
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`and isolating two or more force vectors applied to a safety
`binding securing a heel portion of a ski boot to a ski, and then
`there are four limitations that are recited below that; the lower
`heel assembly, the upper heel assembly which has specific parts
`to it, a linkage element, and then the wherein clause which I'll
`discuss and address in some detail.
`Moving to slide 11, in the related District Court litigation
`the Patent Owner has contended that the preamble is not a
`limitation of the claim. The Patent Owner has contended in the
`District Court that the preamble merely recites the purpose of the
`invention and does not recite any structural elements and the
`Patent Owner has not expressly argued here in these proceedings
`that the preamble is a limitation.
`However, moving to slide 12, the Patent Owner is, we
`would submit, effectively trying to import the language of the
`preamble and specifically the separating and isolating language
`from the preamble into other limitations of the claim and they do
`this by making two arguments. First by arguing that the lateral
`release assembly can move only in a horizontal and lateral plane
`and secondly, by arguing that the lateral release assembly and
`the upper heel assembly must be separate, and these arguments
`are interlaced throughout their response and we provide here
`some examples on slide 12. For example, they say in their
`response the prior art with lateral and vertical release
`mechanisms that share functional structures such that lateral and
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`vertical release forces are cross-linked cannot meet the claim
`limitations, and then they also say the claims require decoupling
`lateral and vertical release forces and insuring that vertical
`forces have no effect on lateral release forces.
`Similarly, on slide 13 another example where they seek to
`differentiate or distinguish the Boussemart 772 reference by
`saying that it doesn't separate and isolate vertical and lateral
`release forces.
`So moving to slide 14, with respect to the Wherein clause,
`the Wherein clause says, Wherein the linkage element a first
`surface and a second surface cooperate to limit motion of the
`lateral release assembly to within a predetermined region with a
`plane defined by the longitudinal and horizontal axes of the ski.
`Now, what the Patent Owner wants to do is to read the word only
`into that clause so that it would say that the lateral release
`assembly can only move within a plane defined by the
`longitudinal and horizontal axes.
`So moving to slide 15. They say, for example, in their
`response at page 24 that if the lateral release assembly was
`permitted to move up and down as well as laterally that would
`mean that the lateral release assembly would be affected by
`vertical release forces as well as lateral release forces, thus
`cross-linking the two release mechanisms. They also say, for
`instance, at page 2 of their response, by limiting motion of the
`lateral release assembly to within this horizontal plane, vertical
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`and lateral forces are unlinked. The problem is the specification
`doesn't say that anywhere and what they're trying to do is to read
`the separating and isolating language from the preamble into the
`Wherein clause.
`Moving to slide 16. They actually expressly say this at one
`point in their response. They say on page 22, they quote on page
`22 of their response the Wherein clause and then they say,
`"Put another way, challenged claim 1 requires that the
`lateral release assembly can only move within the specified
`horizontal plane of the ski."
`The problem is what they're trying to do is they're trying
`now to rewrite the claim. But that's not what the claim says.
`What the Wherein clause is talking about is, it's talking about the
`cooperation of the linkage element, the first surface and the
`second surface and it's saying that those three components
`cooperate together to limit the motion of the lateral release
`assembly within a predetermined region within the lateral and
`horizontal axis of the ski. But that does not restrict or mean that
`the lateral release assembly cannot move in some direction other
`than that subject to other components and there's good reason
`why one might, that the specification in fact tells us why one
`might want to restrict motion using these components to a
`predetermined region. For instance, in column 8 of the
`specification, lines 53 to 62, it specifically talks about an
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`embodiment where lateral release occurs only to one side. So
`that's a restriction to a predetermined region.
`The Patent Owner's position is particularly problematic I
`would submit because the specification nowhere identifies the
`linkage element and the first surface, and the second surface.
`There's no specific discussion, no express discussion, anywhere
`in the specification about this linkage element and it cooperating
`with these two surfaces, and so since the specification tells us
`really nothing about that, it would be overly restrictive to
`interpret the Wherein clause in the manner that the Patent Owner
`suggests and it would also be, as I said earlier, effectively
`importing the limitations or the language of the preamble into
`this element.
`One final point with respect to this claim construction
`issue. The Patent Owner's argument on this issue is contradicted
`by their position in the District Court. In the District Court we
`argued that the only components that would restrict movement of
`the lateral release assembly in this manner would be these three
`components; the linkage element, the first surface and the second
`surface, and they said that there was no requirement that it would
`be only those three components and they said,
`"Marker once again is importing limitations to the claim
`that do not exist in the claim as written."
`So that's in Exhibit 1009, their claim construction brief at
`page 20.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`JUDGE KIM: So are you arguing the opposite in District
`Court then?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: No. We're not arguing the opposite,
`
`no.
`
`JUDGE KIM: Okay.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: No.
`JUDGE KIM: Because you mentioned that they said that
`Marker is saying whatever and that seemed to align with what
`they're saying here.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, no, what our argument there was
`related to the specific components, not that it can only move in
`that lateral direction.
`JUDGE KIM: And just for a little bit of information.
`Where are we in the District Court case with respect to claim
`construction, like have briefs been submitted, has there been a
`Marker (phonetic) hearing, anything like that?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: It's been briefed. We have not had a
`hearing or a ruling and the case has been stayed in view of these
`proceedings.
`JUDGE KIM: Okay. Thank you.
`JUDGE MEYERS: Can you repeat what exhibit that was?
`You said that was Exhibit 1009?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: 1009, yes, Your Honor.
`JUDGE MEYERS: And what page?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Page 20.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`JUDGE MEYERS: Page 20. Okay, thank you.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: So in summary then we would submit
`that their position regarding interpretation of the Wherein clause
`is simply wrong. Moving forward to slide 17. Their second
`claim construction argument is that the upper heel housing and
`the lateral release assembly must be functionally separate
`elements, functionally separate parts of the binding. Again, the
`claim language doesn't say this. It doesn't expressly say that
`these parts cannot share common components nor does it say that
`can't operate functionally with each other so long as the recited
`functions are performed.
`Moving to slide 18, that's clear from the specification
`itself, so here we have on slide 18 again figure 2, the side cross-
`sectional view and this is an annotated version taken from the
`Patent Owner's response and the description of this embodiment
`in the specification makes it clear that a portion of the lateral
`release assembly contributes to the vertical downward
`compression imparted by the upper heel assembly to the boot.
`Specifically as I mentioned earlier, the upper heel housing 16
`connects to the lateral release cam 17 by way of the pivot rod 18
`and the patent expressly describes that the vertical release is a
`function of the opposing cam surfaces 19A on 17 and 19B at the
`bottom of 20, and so a portion of the lateral release assembly
`which is specifically element 17 and specifically cam surface
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`Case IPR2017-01265
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`19A creates the vertical force that compresses the heel of the
`boot downward, as recited in claim 1.
`Indeed, looking at slide 19 the Patent Owner agrees. This
`is directly from the Patent Owner response at pages 7 to 8. They
`say that the upward push of the spring 21 against the threaded
`cap of the upper heel housing 16 in combination with cam 19A
`and pivot rod 18 creates a corresponding downward compressive
`force at heel cup 47. So the Patent Owner is conceding that this
`19A, which is part of the lateral release cam 17, is contributing
`to the vertical and downward compression. So it's clear that the
`specification itself is teaching that these two pieces, the upper
`heel housing and the lateral release assembly, are connected.
`They're intertwined, they share components and they overlap.
`So we would submit, Your Honors, that their position that
`the lateral release assembly and the upper heel housing must be
`completely separate are wrong. Again, just briefly, with respect
`to their position in the District Court, their position in the
`District Court supports this because in the District Court they
`argued that the lower heel assembly and the upper heel assembly
`could have components in common and that's shown on slides 20
`and 21, and we would submit that an argument that the upper
`heel assembly and the lower heel assembly can share components
`is inconsistent with their argument here that the upper heel
`housing and lateral release assembly must be separate. So
`moving then to slide --
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`JUDGE KIM: So, yes, sorry. I have a question. So I think
`it seems -- is it error to say there's a different flavor between the
`plane arguments and the linkage arguments in that I feel like for
`the plane arguments there's only one embodiment in the
`specification and so their position is sort of based on the fact
`that well there's only one embodiment and so we have to read the
`claims sort of consistent with this one embodiment, whereas for
`a linkage one I think you seem to be saying that even there they
`don't have an embodiment like where they're even separate. I
`know that was a lot of questions packed into one but am I off in
`understanding your positions?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: I think what I'm trying to get at,
`Your Honor, is you have to start I think with the plain language
`of the claims and the plain language of the claims is such that a)
`it doesn't say that the upper heel housing and the lateral release
`assembly have to be completely functionally separate and cannot
`share components.
`JUDGE KIM: Oh, I understand that. I'm just trying to
`understand the spec part of it.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, and I'm going to loop if I can.
`JUDGE KIM: Sure. Thank you.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: And then with respect to the Wherein
`clause, again it doesn't say wherein the lateral release assembly
`can only move in a lateral plane. So what we're doing is we're
`really trying to focus on what does the claim say and if they had
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`wanted to amend their claim, they could potentially have had an
`opportunity to do that. They didn't ask to amend their claim.
`The claim is as it is. This is how they wrote it when they were
`seeking their patent and we would say our analysis is that plain
`language text based analysis, but I would submit that it is
`supported by the spec in both instances. I think it's supported by
`the spec with respect to upper heel assembly lateral release
`assembly being functionally separate by that explanation I just
`went through with respect to figure 2 and the accompanying
`description in the specification.
`I would also say that with respect to the Wherein clause it's
`similarly supported by the specification because, as I said, in
`column 8, lines 53 to 62, it specifically teaches an embodiment
`where the lateral release only occurs to one side and it talks
`about the importance of that from a safety perspective. This is
`the view of the inventor that by having a binding with this
`design, it could be safer for the skier and could reduce ACL
`injuries, and in particular could do that by only allowing release
`to one side, specifically to the outside.
`So that, we would contend, is consistent with this language
`in the claim that talks about the linkage element first surface and
`second surface limiting motion of the lateral release assembly to
`this predetermined region. So I would submit -- I guess what I'm
`saying, Your Honor, is we submit on both issues we're following
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`the plain language and it's supported by the spec. I hope that
`answered your question.
`JUDGE KIM: Not really, but I didn't articulate very well
`so (indiscernible.)
`MR. FITZPATRICK: I mean I'm happy to -- if Your Honor
`has follow-up?
`JUDGE KIM: I think maybe I kind of want to hear from
`Patent Owner on their position --
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Very well.
`JUDGE KIM: -- on this and then maybe that'll clarify it for
`rebuttal.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Very well. So turning to the German
`reference, the DE '298, this is a patent application that relates to
`a ski binding that resists against release in the upper direction
`and also resists against release in the lateral direction wherein
`the resistance in each direction can be dimensioned and adjusted
`independently of each other.
`So turning to slide 23, this is an annotated version of figure
`1 of the German reference showing the principle components.
`The bearing block 11 which is attached to the ski, that's attached
`using component 12 to the hold-down member 13 and hold-down
`member 13 can rotate upward in the direction depicted with the
`arrow X so it's rotating in a clockwise direction as we're looking
`at it, and then there are a pair of compression springs 17
`depicted in green which interact with the front cross wall and are
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`biased to oppose upward movement of the hold-down member,
`and then depicted in gold on the left are the retaining jaws 25
`which have wings that come out 26 which contact the heel of the
`ski boot. In response to a strong upward directed force, the
`hold-down member and the heel holder are swiveled upwards
`together in the direction of arrow X and the German patent
`application teaches that when this happens the lateral release
`mechanism remains unaffected and that's taught at page 8 of the
`German reference.
`On slide 24 we have a demonstrative that shows the
`interaction between a boot and this binding. I'll address that in
`some more detail shortly, and then on slide 25 we have a top
`cross-sectional view, an annotated view from figure 2 of the
`German patent application showing the retaining jaw 25 which is
`attached to the hold-down member 13 by a rod shaped tension
`member 27 and detent spring 28. Those are depicted in blue and
`purple respectively and in operation in response to a strong
`lateral force in the direction of the arrows Y1 and Y2 the heel
`holder 25 can swivel in the corresponding transverse direction.
`On slide 26 we have again a demonstrative which depicts the
`heel of the boot interacting with this binding.
`So turning then to ground one, which is anticipation of the
`challenged claims by this German reference. I'm going to
`address the two elements that Patent Owner addressed in its
`submission. So first of all, looking at slide 28 we've bolded the
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`first of these which is the upper heel assembly comprising an
`upper heel housing that is configured to compress the heel
`portion of the ski boot downward.
`The 867 patent, turning to slide 29, teaches that
`compression is the opposition of upward forces. The patent
`specifically says, as we've quoted here on slide 29, that the,
`"Upper heel housing holds and compresses a ski boot heel
`downward to oppose the upward forces generated by the ski boot
`during skiing."
`And on slide 30 there is very similar language in the
`German reference. It says that the hold-down member serves to
`hold the shoe in the upward direction and is held down against
`upwardly pivoting and this language, we would submit, is very
`similar to the language quoted in slide 29 and indeed the German
`reference discloses an upper heel housing that is configured to
`compress the heel of the boot downward, as shown in these slides
`with annotated versions of figures 1 and 2 and we see here the
`downward compressing force that is imparted by the springs 17
`on to the hold-down member and the retaining jaw. As our
`expert Dr. Shealy points out at paragraph 72 of his declaration, it
`is important to restrict slack in the coupling between the boot
`and the ski in order to improve control and thus safety.
`Turning to slide 32, the Patent Owner we would submit has
`really misinterpreted our figure Q which I showed on the
`previous slide. They latch on to and make much of the fact that
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`there is a very small gap shown between the top of the heel of
`the boot and the bottom of the wings of the retaining jaw. It's a
`demonstrative exhibit. We didn't intend to suggest that there
`would actually be a gap. Their expert, Mr. Dodge, in his
`deposition admitted that he understood that this figure was
`merely for demonstrative purposes and he described it as a rough
`illustration that wasn't actually correct.
`Moving to slide 33. In any event, the reality is that even if
`a gap existed there would still be compressive force. Mr. Dodge
`confirmed or agreed that if the boot were to move up and the
`patent itself, as we saw on slide 29, talks about the heel of the
`boot moving, if that moved up then the retaining jaw would
`provide compressive force and he confirmed that there are no ski
`binding designs on the market today where the heel cup does not
`compress the heel of the boot on to the ski surface.
`Moving to slide 34. Mr. Dodge tries to argue or suggest
`that well, perhaps there could be a gap and there could be a
`reason for a gap and he points to certain prior art. But the
`reality is that what he points to is art relating to the toe
`component of a ski binding, not the heel component, and as I say
`there's no heel on the market that doesn't provide compressive
`force and so we would submit in summary that their arguments
`regarding this compression issue are simply wrong.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`Moving to slide 35. We've highlighted here the Wherein
`clause that goes to their second argument as to how they tried to
`distinguish the German reference.
`On slide 36 we've depicted again figures 1 and 2 from the
`German reference with annotations to show that this reference
`does disclose a linkage element and two surfaces that limit
`motion of the lateral release assembly. The rod-shaped tension
`member 27 acts as a linkage member and then the opposing
`surfaces, the back of the retaining jaw 25 and the front of the
`hold-down member are in opposition and in tension and the
`combination of those acts to limit the motion of the lateral
`release assembly to within a predetermined region within the
`lateral plane.
`JUDGE MEYERS: Counsel, can I just jump in there for a
`Minute?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes, Judge Meyers.
`JUDGE MEYERS: On the 867 patent, what elements
`correspond in figure 2 to the first and second surfaces?
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Well, that's a good question because
`the patent doesn't actually expressly teach that. If I can, at the
`risk of making everybody dizzy, I'll go back to slide 6.
`JUDGE MEYERS: I ask because I think this goes back to
`your reliance on that column 8, I don't remember exactly what
`line it was, 50 to 60 I think --
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Fifty three to sixty two.
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`Case IPR2017-01265
`Patent 8,955,867
`JUDGE MEYERS: -- 53 to 62, that refers to a tongue 60
`(indiscernible) your figure 2 of the 867 patent.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: Yes. On slide 4.
`JUDGE MEYERS: Okay.
`MR. FITZPATRICK: So I think in this particular
`embodiment what happens is you've got the tongue 60 that
`projects out from the lateral release cam and then there is above
`that a cantilevered portion

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