QR Spex, Inc. v. Motorola Inc.

QR Spex, Inc. (QR) (plaintiff) was a patent holding company that licensed its patent portfolio to other companies. QR collaborated with a company to invent eyewear (the QR eyewear) with integrated radio transceivers. The QR eyewear received United States Patent No. 6,769,767 (the ‘767 patent). QR’s patented eyewear included detachable temples with embedded electronic components. This feature allowed users to swap eyewear temples to access the desired functionality for headphones, television sets, or child monitors. QR claimed that its eyewear would create a Bluetooth network to allow users to listen to MP3 player music wirelessly. The ‘767 patent described the Bluetooth receiver as co-molded within one of the temples, but the figures and specifications showed and described a transceiver permanently set in a cavity without a way to remove it from the eyewear. Motorola Inc. (defendant), a manufacturer of wireless-communications products, collaborated with Oakley Inc. and related Oakley companies (Oakley) (defendants) to invent two pairs of eyewear called the O ROKR and the O ROKR Pro (the Oakley eyewear). The Oakley eyewear had Bluetooth transceivers attached to the frames by clips, screws, posts, and ridges. The Bluetooth transceivers in the Oakley eyewear were not permanently set in the frames and could be easily removed or replaced. QR brought suit against Motorola and Oakley, claiming that the Oakley eyewear infringed Claim 1 of the ‘767 patent that described eyewear with a Bluetooth transceiver embedded in the frame. Oakley argued that the Oakley eyewear did not infringe the ‘767 patent because the Bluetooth transceivers were not embedded within the frames. Oakley moved for a partial summary judgment of noninfringement. QR opposed the motion.