Plotagraph, Inc., Troy Plota, Sascha Connelly v. Lightricks, Ltd.

N OTE: This disposition is nonprecedential.
United States Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit
______________________
PLOTAGRAPH, INC., TROY PLOTA, SASCHA
CONNELLY,
Plaintiffs-Appellants
v.
LIGHTRICKS, LTD.,
Defendant-Appellee
______________________
2023-1048
______________________
Appeal from the United States District Court for the
Southern District of Texas in No. 4:21-cv-03873, Judge Lee
H. Rosenthal.
______________________
Decided: January 22, 2024
______________________
D AVID ARTHUR WALKER, Schneider Wallace Cottrell
Konecky LLP, Houston, TX, argued for plaintiffs-appel-
lants. Also represented by SHAWN HUNTER; RAYMOND R.
F ERRERA , Adams and Reese LLP, Houston, TX.
ROBERT L. G REESON, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP,
Dallas, TX, argued for defendant-appellee. Also repre-
sented by STEPHANIE D EBROW , P ETER MIFFLIN HILLEGAS ,
Austin, TX.
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 2
______________________
Before D YK, SCHALL , and REYNA, Circuit Judges.
S CHALL , Circuit Judge.
D ECISION
Plotagraph, Inc., Troy Plota, and Sascha Connelly (col-
lectively, “Plotagraph”) sued Lightricks, Ltd. (“Lightricks”)
in the United States District Court for the Southern Dis-
trict of Texas for infringement of five patents related to au-
tomated pixel shifting in digital photos or videos. The court
dismissed the suit under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim, concluding that the pa-
tents claimed subject matter ineligible for patenting under
35 U.S.C. § 101. Plotagraph, Inc. v. Lightricks Ltd., 620 F.
Supp. 3d 591, 602 (S.D. Tex. 2022). Because we agree that
the patent claims are directed to an abstract idea and lack
an inventive concept, we affirm.
D ISCUSSION
I
Plotagraph owns U.S. Patent No. 10,346,017 (“the ’017
patent”), U.S. Patent No. 10,558,342 (“the ’342 patent”),
U.S. Patent No. 10,621,469 (“the ’469 patent”), U.S. Patent
No. 11,182,641 (“the ’641 patent”), and U.S. Patent No.
11,301,119 (“the ’119 patent”) (collectively, the “Asserted
Patents”). As Plotagraph explained in its Amended Com-
plaint, the Asserted Patents are directed to “technology
[that] allows users to animate portions of a digital still
photo or a frame of a video file” by “select[ing] a set of pixels
within the photo or video file,” which are then “shifted” to
“simulat[e] motion.” J.A. 265–66 ¶¶ 6–7. “For example, a
still photo showing an individual standing before a water-
fall could be animated to have the waterfall in the still
photo appear to be flowing.” Id. at 265 ¶ 6.
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 3
The independent claims of the Asserted Patents all
generally recite: (1) a preamble identifying a computer sys-
tem, computer program product, method, or computer-
readable media, for automating the shifting of pixels; (2) a
series of preparatory steps or features initiated by a user;
and (3) a final pixel-shifting step. Like the district court,
we deem claim 12 of the ’641 patent to be representative.1
It recites:
12. A computer program product comprising
one or more non-transitory computer storage me-
dia having stored thereon computer-executable in-
structions that, when transmitted to a remote
computer system for execution at a processor,
cause the remote computer system to perform a
method for automating a shifting of pixels within
an image file, the method comprising:
receiving a first indication of a first start-
ing point through a user interface, wherein
the first starting point is received through
1 On appeal, Plotagraph analyzes claims other than
claim 12 of the ’641 patent. See Appellants’ Br. 6–8 (quot-
ing claim 1 of the ’017 patent); Oral arg. at 1:25–2:20,
20:10–22:00, https://oralarguments.cafc.uscourts.gov/de-
fault.aspx?fl=23-1048_12052023.mp3 (Dec. 5, 2023) (dis-
cussing claim 7 of the ’342 patent). Plotagraph did not,
however, dispute the district court’s reliance on claim 12 of
the ’641 patent as representative for purposes of determin-
ing patent eligibility, nor does Plotagraph meaningfully do
so on appeal. Plotagraph, 620 F. Supp. 3d at 597; see also
J.A. 507–08 (counsel for Plotagraph acknowledging at the
hearing pertaining to Lightricks’ Rule 12(b)(6) motion that
Plotagraph “didn’t respond to” Lightricks’ argument that
claim 12 of the ’641 patent is representative).
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 4
a user selection of a first portion of a first
image frame;
receiving, through the user interface, a
first direction associated with the first
starting point;
creating a first digital link extending in the
first direction from the first starting point;
selecting a first set of pixels that are along
the first digital link and extend in the first
direction away from the first starting point;
and
shifting the first set of pixels, in the first
image frame, in the first direction.
’641 patent col. 17 ll. 25–44.
II
After Plotagraph filed suit, Lightricks moved to dis-
miss Plotagraph’s complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure
to state a claim. Lightricks argued that Plotagraph cannot
state a claim for infringement because the claims of the As-
serted Patents are patent ineligible under § 101. J.A. 201–
05. After briefing and a hearing on the issue, the district
court granted Lightricks’ motion. The court observed that
“[s]hifting pixels to create the illusion of movement within
an image is a digital version of animation, which is an ab-
stract idea.” Plotagraph, 620 F. Supp. 3d at 600. The court
concluded that the claims are directed to the abstract idea
of “shifting pixels to create the illusion of movement within
an image,” and do not provide an inventive concept render-
ing the claims patent-eligible. Id. at 601–02.
III
We review a district court’s decision to grant a motion
to dismiss under the law of the regional circuit. Trinity
Info Media, LLC v. Covalent, Inc., 72 F.4th 1355, 1360
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 5
(Fed. Cir. 2023). The Fifth Circuit reviews Rule 12(b)(6)
dismissals for failure to state a claim de novo, accepting all
well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint as true
and viewing those facts in the light most favorable to the
non-moving party. Meador v. Apple, Inc., 911 F.3d 260, 264
(5th Cir. 2018).
“Patent eligibility is a question of law that may involve
underlying questions of fact, but not every § 101 determi-
nation contains genuine disputes over the underlying facts
material to the § 101 inquiry.” Trinity Info Media, 72 F.4th
at 1360 (quoting PersonalWeb Techs. LLC v. Google LLC, 8
F.4th 1310, 1314 (Fed. Cir. 2021)) (internal quotation
marks and brackets omitted). We review a district court’s
ultimate conclusion on patent eligibility de novo. Id. Sec-
tion 101 disputes can be determined at the Rule 12(b)(6)
stage when there are no factual allegations that, taken as
true, prevent resolving the eligibility question as a matter
of law. Uniloc USA, Inc. v. LG Elecs., USA, Inc., 957 F.3d
1303, 1306 (Fed. Cir. 2020).
Section 101 defines patent-eligible subject matter as
“any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or
composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement
thereof.” 35 U.S.C. § 101. The Supreme Court established
a two-step test for examining patent eligibility under § 101
in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, 573 U.S. 208
(2014). The first step of the Alice analysis is to determine
whether the claims at issue are directed to a patent-ineli-
gible concept such as a law of nature, a natural phenome-
non, or an abstract idea. Id. at 217. If so, Alice’s second
step is to consider whether the claim nonetheless includes
an “inventive concept” sufficient to “transform the nature
of the claim into a patent-eligible application.” Id. (inter-
nal quotation marks and citation omitted). This inventive
concept must do more than simply recite “well-understood,
routine, conventional activity.” Mayo Collaborative Servs.
v. Prometheus Lab’ys, Inc., 566 U.S. 66, 73 (2012).
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 6
IV
On appeal, Plotagraph argues that the district court
erred with respect to both steps of the Alice test. We ad-
dress each argument in turn.
A
Plotagraph first objects to the district court’s Alice step
one analysis. According to Plotagraph, the court overgen-
eralized the claims of the Asserted Patents as being di-
rected to the concept of “animation.” Plotagraph contends
that this determination was “untethered from the actual
claim language” and improperly incorporated limitations
from the specification into the claims. Appellant’s Br. 27–
28; Oral arg. at 20:10–22:08 (“[N]owhere in this claim does
it say this exact abstract idea. . . . [E]xamine all of [the in-
dependent claims’]. It nowhere says ‘shifting pixels to cre-
ate the illusion of movement.’”), 20:50–22:10 (similar). In
addition, Plotagraph appears to take issue with the district
court’s reliance on cases in which our court has held claims
reciting the automation of manual processes using generic
computers to be abstract because Plotagraph contends that
pixel-shifting cannot be done by hand. Id. at 16, 21–23, 27–
28; see also id. at 28–29 (discussing an amendment made
during the prosecution of the first patent, the ’017 patent,
to add the word “automatically” before the pixel-shifting
step “specifically to disclaim manual and mental ‘shifting’
of pixels and the abstract idea of shifting pixels”). Simi-
larly, Plotagraph asserts that the court erroneously over-
generalized the claimed invention to a degree that it
encompassed mental processes. Appellant’s Br. 16, 27–34,
37–38. In making these arguments, Plotagraph primarily
relies on Enfish LLC v. Microsoft Corp., 822 F.3d 1327
(Fed. Cir. 2016), Research Corp. Technologies v. Microsoft
Corp., 627 F.3d 859, 868 (Fed. Cir. 2010), and CyberSource
Corp. v. Retail Decisions, Inc., 654 F.3d 1366, 1376 (Fed.
Cir. 2011). Appellants’ Br. 30–31, 33–34.
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 7
We agree with the district court that the claims are di-
rected to an abstract idea. It is immaterial that the claims
do not include any form of the word “animation,” or the
phrase “illusion of movement” and it was not improper for
the court to consider the specification. The first step of the
Alice test looks at the focus of the claimed advance over the
prior art to determine if a claim’s character as a whole is
directed to excluded subject matter. In re Killian, 45 F.4th
1373, 1382 (Fed. Cir. 2022). In conducting that inquiry, we
must read the claims as a whole and consider them in light
of the specification. Data Engine Techs. LLC v. Google
LLC, 906 F.3d 999, 1011 (Fed. Cir. 2018); see Yu v. Apple
Inc., 1 F.4th 1040, 1043 (Fed. Cir. 2021). As noted, the
claims of the Asserted Patents recite a series of prepara-
tory steps in which a user selects features within the digi-
tal image that will shift and in what direction they will
shift before reciting a step of shifting the corresponding
pixels. The Asserted Patents’ specifications consistently
and unambiguously describe pixel-shifting as a way to cre-
ate the illusion of movement. For example, the patents
state:
Accordingly, disclosed embodiments provide novel
and innovative technical methods for automati-
cally shifting pixels within a digital image. The
shifted pixels may give a digital image the percep-
tion of movement. At least one disclosed embodi-
ment requires only a single digital image to create
a perception of movement within the digital image.
’017 patent col. 11 ll. 38–44 (emphasis added);2 see also id.
at col. 1 ll. 50–52 (discussing the desirability of a tool to
incorporate movement in a digital image), col. 3 ll. 32–39
(“[D]isclosed embodiments automate the shifting of pixels
2 The Asserted Patents largely share a common spec-
ification. For simplicity, we cite only to the ’017 patent, the
first of the Asserted Patents to issue.
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 8
within a digital photograph of water such that the water
appears to be flowing”), col. 8 ll. 64–68 (noting that contin-
uous pixel shifting “results in the impression of motion”).
Indeed, the specifications equate pixel-shifting with
providing the illusion of motion, i.e., animation:
Once a user is satisfied with their work on an im-
age, a preview output screen 210e allows a user to
view the image while the pixels are being shifted.
Such a view may give the impression that at least a
portion of the static image is animated. In contrast,
a user is also given a static preview option 220d
that allows the user to view the un-animated im-
age.
Id. at col. 9 ll. 18–24 (emphasis added); see also col. 4 ll. 36–
37 (noting that a user can “adjust[ ] animation duration”),
col. 7 ll. 36–39 (“In various embodiments, a user is provided
with an animation duration and FPS rate option 220b for
determining the step size within the shift and/or the speed
at which the shift occurs.”). Indeed, in its Amended Com-
plaint, Plotagraph itself characterized the Asserted Pa-
tents as being directed to animation. See J.A. 265–66 ¶ 6
(“The Patents-in-Suit relate to novel computer systems and
methods for automatically shifting pixels in still digital
photos or video files. This technology allows users to ani-
mate portions of a digital still photo or a frame of video
file.”); see also id. at ¶ 7.3
As the district court recognized, considered as a whole
and in the context of the specification, the claims of the As-
serted Patents are directed to changing the position of
3 In addition, at oral argument, counsel for Plota-
graph acknowledged that the patents are directed to “the
method of how you perform getting to the result that is a
digital photo with the perception of movement within it.”
Oral arg. 11:30–49.
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 9
components in an image to create the appearance of move-
ment, i.e., animation, which is clearly an abstract idea that
is directly tethered to the claim language. See Solutran,
Inc. v. Elavon, Inc., 931 F.3d 1161, 1167–68 (Fed. Cir.
2019). Performing animation in the realm of computers,
i.e., digital animation, where the components that are
moved are pixels, does not render the claims any less ab-
stract.4 See Univ. of Fla. Res. Found., Inc. v. Gen. Elec. Co.,
916 F.3d 1363, 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2019) (concluding that auto-
mating “pen and paper methodologies” using a computer,
even if “laudable, . . . does not render it any less abstract”).
Enfish and Research Corp. do not help Plotagraph. In
Enfish, claims directed to a “self-referential table for a com-
puter database,” were not abstract because the table “im-
prove[d] the way a computer stores and retrieves data in
memory.” Enfish, 822 F.3d at 1336–39. Similarly, in Re-
search Corp., the claimed processes provided the technolog-
ical advance of “produc[ing] higher quality halftone images
while using less processor power and memory space.” 627
F.3d at 865. No such technological advance or improve-
ment to computer functionality is evident here. Rather, the
claims merely employ generic computers to perform anima-
tion—i.e., the computer simply performs more efficiently
what could otherwise be accomplished manually. See Ban-
corp Servs. LLC v. Sun Life Assur. Co. of Canada, 687 F.3d
1266, 1279 (Fed. Cir. 2012). This case is thus also distin-
guishable from McRO, Inc. v. Bandai Namco Games Amer-
ica, 837 F.3d 1299, 1306, 1314–16 (Fed. Cir. 2016), where
the claims incorporated an in-depth, extensive set of rules
that enabled computers to automate phenomes in 3-D
4 There is no dispute that the claimed pixel-shifting
is performed using a generic computer. Oral arg. at 1:00–
1:40 (counsel for Plotagraph answering “using the com-
puter” and “computer code” when asked how the claimed
pixel-shifting was accomplished).
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 10
animation, eliminating the previous need for human-inter-
mediated judgment and steps.
CyberSource also does not help Plotagraph. In that
case, we held claims ineligible that attempted to capture
“unpatentable mental processes.” 654 F.3d at 1376–77.
The claims held to be ineligible in CyberSource recited com-
ponents corresponding to computer implementation, but
this did not preclude our court from finding that the claims
were directed to a mental process. Id. at 1373–74. Plota-
graph, though, points to our observation in CyberSource
that the claimed method in Research Corp., which “re-
quired the manipulation of computer data structures (e.g.,
the pixels of a digital image and a two-dimensional array
known as a mask),” could not be performed mentally. Ap-
pellants’ Br. 33–34 (quoting CyberSource, 654 F.3d at
1376). The claims at issue in Research Corp., however, not
only required the use of a computer but, as discussed above,
also provided a technological advance. See Bancorp, 687
F.3d at 1279. Plotagraph’s attempt to use our discussion
of Research Corp. in CyberSource thus fails.
B
Having determined that the claims of the Asserted Pa-
tents are directed to the abstract idea of digital animation,
we turn now to the second step of the Alice test. Plotagraph
points to four features of the patents it alleges supply an
inventive concept: (a) “the use of paths or digital links and
starting and ending points to provide directions for auto-
matic shifting”; (b) “non-linear paths”; (c) “masks which
prevent shifting”; and (d) “edges/anchor points for creation
of masks.” Appellants’ Br. 23–25 (citing J.A. 266–67 ¶ 9).
Pointing to these features, Plotagraph asserts that the in-
ventive concept issue cannot be resolved at the Rule
12(b)(6) stage. Id. at 27.
Although patentees who adequately allege their claims
contain inventive concepts can survive a § 101 eligibility
analysis under Rule 12(b)(6), dismissal is appropriate
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PLOTAGRAPH , INC. v. LIGHTRICKS, LTD. 11
where the factual allegations are not plausible, are refuted
by the record, or are conclusory. See Aatrix Software v.
Green Shades Software, Inc., 882 F.3d 1121, 1125 (Fed. Cir.
2018); Simio, LLC v. FlexSim Software Prods., Inc., 983
F.3d 1353, 1365 (Fed. Cir. 2020) (quoting Aatrix, 882 F.3d
at 1125). Here, none of the four features Plotagraph points
to provides an inventive concept. “An inventive concept
that transforms the abstract idea into a patent-eligible in-
vention must be significantly more than the abstract idea
itself . . . .” Bascom Glob. Internet Servs., Inc. v. AT&T Mo-
bility LLC, 827 F.3d 1341, 1349 (Fed. Cir. 2016). Each of
the four features appears to be a feature inherent in non-
automated computer animation. Each is a parameter de-
fined by a user through conventional user-interface tools5
“specified at a high level of generality.” Alice, 573 U.S. at
222 (quoting Mayo, 566 U.S. at 82). This is “not enough to
supply an inventive concept.” Id. (citations and internal
quotation marks omitted). And, although Plotagraph’s
Amended Complaint contended that “[t]hese features were
not previously used with image editing, were not generic
computer software or hardware, and were not well-under-
stood, routine, or conventional at the time of invention,”
J.A. 266–67 ¶ 9, as the district court correctly observed,
such conclusory statements may be disregarded when eval-
uating a complaint under Rule 12(b)(6) if the complaint and
record do not support that conclusion. See Simio, 983 F.3d
at 1365; Plotagraph, 620 F. Supp. 3d at 602. That is the
case here. The Amended Complaint’s allegations therefore
5 See, e.g., ’017 patent col. 5 ll. 1–11, col. 6 ll. 1–16,
19–36, col. 12 ll. 41–50, col. 14 ll. 9–12, 16–19; id. at col. 9
ll. 1–12; id. at col. 3, ll. 45–47, col. 4 ll. 40–50, col. 16 ll. 18–
25, col. 18 ll. 5–9; id. at col. 5 ll. 1–14, col. 16 ll. 18–29; Oral
arg. at 2:39–2:55, 8:00–9:00 (discussing that a user chooses
the pertinent parameters).
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do not prevent resolving the eligibility question as a matter
of law. Aatrix, 882 F.3d at 1125; Simio, 983 F.3d at 1365.
CONCLUSION
We have considered Plotagraph’s remaining argu-
ments and find them unpersuasive. For the reasons given
above, we affirm the court’s decision.
AFFIRMED
COSTS
No costs.
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