In re WAG Acquisition
Panel: Dyk, Reyna, Stark
The Federal Circuit affirmed the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that claims 1 and 4 of WAG Acquisition's U.S. Patent No. 8,327,011—directed to a streaming media buffering system—were anticipated by the Hill prior art reference. WAG challenged the Board's anticipation findings on three claim limitations: (1) instructions causing the media player to transmit requests identifying data elements by serial number, (2) a buffer manager maintaining a record of the last received element's serial number, and (3) receiving data at a rate faster than playback speed.
The court's analysis turned on applying the substantial evidence standard to the Board's factual findings while reviewing claim construction de novo. The court rejected WAG's argument for a narrow construction of claim 4, holding that the claims' broad language encompassed an aggregate receipt rate faster than playback, not a requirement that each individual frame be transmitted faster than playback speed. The court also found substantial evidence supporting the Board's determination that Hill's global frame numbering system disclosed maintaining a record of the last received element, reasoning that Hill must store the last received frame number to use it as a starting point for subsequent requests, even though WAG's system could receive elements out of order.