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1 MICHAEL S. HORIKAWA (SBN 267014)

2
michael.horikawa@pillsburylaw.com
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP
3 725 South Figueroa Street, 36th Floor
4 Los Angeles, CA 90017
Telephone: 213.488.7100
5 Facsimile: 213.629.1033
6
CHRISTOPHER KAO (SBN 237716)
7 christopher.kao@pillsburylaw.com
8 DAVID J. TSAI (SBN 244479)
david.tsai@pillsburylaw.com
9 BROCK WEBER (SBN 261383)
10 brock.weber@pillsburylaw.com
ALEKZANDIR MORTON (SBN 319241)
11 alekzandir.morton@pillsburylaw.com
12 JOHN J. STEGER (SBN 341299)
john.steger@pillsubyrlaw.com
13 PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP
14 Four Embarcadero Center, 22nd Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111-5998
15 Telephone: 415.983.1000
16 Facsimile: 415.983.1200
17 Attorneys for Plaintiff
Playvuu, Inc.
18

19

20 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

21 FOR THE CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
22

23 Playvuu, Inc., a Delaware Corporation, Case No.

24 Plaintiff, COMPLAINT FOR PATENT
25 v. INFRINGEMENT
26 Snap, Inc., a Delaware Corporation,
JURY TRIAL DEMANDED
27 Defendant.
28
COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT
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1 Plaintiff Playvuu, Inc. (“Playvuu” or “Plaintiff”) hereby asserts the following

2 claims for patent infringement against Defendant Snap, Inc. (“Snap” or “Snapchat”
3 or “Defendant”), and alleges as follows:
4 NATURE OF THE ACTION
5 1. This is a civil action for patent infringement under the patent laws of the
6 United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.
7 2. Snap has infringed and continues to infringe one or more claims of
8 Playvuu’s U.S. Patent No. 10,931,911 (“the ’911 Patent”).
9 3. Snap has induced and continues to induce infringement of one or more
10 claims of the ’911 Patent.
11 4. Playvuu is the legal owner of the ’911 Patent, which was duly and
12 legally issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”).
13 Playvuu seeks injunctive relief and monetary damages.
14 THE PARTIES
15 5. Playvuu, Inc. is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of
16 the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business at 1312 Aviation Blvd.,
17 #103, Redondo Beach, California 90278.
18 6. On information and belief, Snap, Inc. is a corporation organized and
19 existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, with its principal place of business
20 at 3000 31st Street, Santa Monica, California 90405.
21 JURISDICTION AND VENUE
22 7. This is a civil action for patent infringement arising under the patent
23 laws of the United States, 35 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.
24 8. This Court has subject matter jurisdiction over the matters asserted
25 herein under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).
26 9. Snap is subject to this Court’s personal jurisdiction as its principal place
27 of business is in this District, and it committed acts giving rise to this action within
28 and/or directed to this District and has established minimum contacts within this
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1 District such that the exercise of jurisdiction over Snap would not offend traditional
2 notions of fair play and substantial justice.
3 10. Venue is proper in this judicial district pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1391
4 and 1400(b) because Snap has committed acts of infringement in this District and its
5 principal place of business is in this District.
6 THE ASSERTED PATENTS
7 11. The ’911 Patent, titled “Creating and Disseminating of User Generated
8 Content Over a Network,” was filed on January 15, 2019, as a continuation of
9 Application No. 20120017150, filed on November 23, 2010. The ’911 Patent issued
10 on February 23, 2021. Shane Pollack is the sole inventor of the ’911 Patent. A true
11 and correct copy of the ’911 Patent is attached as Exhibit A.
12 12. Playvuu is the owner of all rights, title, and interest in and to the ’911
13 Patent, with the full and exclusive right to bring suit to enforce it. The ’911 Patent is
14 valid and enforceable under United States patent laws.
15 PLAYVUU’S HISTORY AND PATENTED TECHNOLOGY
16 13. Playvuu, originally known as MySongToYou, Inc., was founded in
17 2009 by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shane Pollack. Prior to founding
18 Playvuu, Mr. Pollack worked as a writer, director, and film producer.
19 14. When he was just 16 years old, Mr. Pollack authored a young adult
20 novel, “Baseball’s Big Starr.” After “Baseball’s Big Starr” was published,
21 Mr. Pollack did a national book tour at Borders and Barnes & Noble bookstores.
22 15. Mr. Pollack later created a television show, “Central High,” and served
23 as writer and producer of the show, which aired on HBO Family. Through the show,
24 Mr. Pollack helped launch the careers of Grammy award winning artist Ashanti and
25 renowned actress Leighton Meester. “Central High” also featured Football Hall of
26 Fame Inductee Reggie White. As a result of his work on the show, HBO named
27 Mr. Pollack one of the ten most promising filmmakers in the U.S.
28
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1 16. Mr. Pollack also created and directed a film for HBO Family, “The
2 Greatness of the Game,” in which he worked with the New York Yankees and the
3 Baseball Hall of Fame.
4 17. In the two years that followed, Mr. Pollack filmed a few more projects,
5 including non-profit mental health Public Service Announcements starring Martin
6 Sheen and a short film in 2001 for which PDI/DreamWorks contributed to the
7 special effects. This film won an Artistic Excellence Award at the Atlantic City Film
8 Festival. Additionally, Mr. Pollack was the only person who was not a DreamWorks
9 employee to have a film premiere at the DreamWorks Film Festival.
10 18. Following his successful career in the television and film industry,
11 Mr. Pollack launched a career as a pop rapper. Mr. Pollack was trained by hip hop
12 pioneers, including Doug E. Fresh, who had mentored other rappers including Sean
13 Combs, also known as Diddy. As a protégé of Doug E. Fresh, Mr. Pollack spent
14 considerable time enmeshed in the music industry. Mr. Pollack met with executives
15 from Warner Music and Def Jam, and spent time with artists such as Diddy, 50 Cent,
16 Ne-Yo, LL Cool J, and a myriad of others. Mr. Pollack released two studio albums,
17 “Never Peak” released in 2002 under the moniker Mad Philosopher and the self-
18 titled album “Shane” released in 2007. Mr. Pollack focused his rap career on
19 promoting positive messages through his fun, up-tempo songs, which omitted any
20 reference to violence, alcohol, drugs, or profanity.
21 19. An important part of Mr. Pollack’s music career was philanthropy.
22 Along with the launch of his first studio album, Mr. Pollack started the Pen and Pad
23 Foundation, an organization created to give children the tools to get into creative
24 writing from a young age. During his rap career, Mr. Pollack toured France, where
25 he focused on playing charity shows, including shows at orphanages and the biggest
26 clubs in Southern France. Mr. Pollack moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to do a
27 Children’s Hospital Tour of Southern California with his back-up dancers from
28 UCLA. They frequently performed at The Children’s Hospital of Orange County
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1 and The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Even today—more than fifteen years
2 later—Mr. Pollack continues to work with The Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles
3 on fundraising and philanthropy.
4 20. Based on his experience in the film and music industries, Mr. Pollack
5 founded MySongToYou, a platform that allowed anyone, regardless of technical
6 proficiency, to easily create music and music videos.
7 21. Mr. Pollack founded MySongToYou in 2009 to democratize music
8 creation by creating a platform that anyone could use to create professional songs
9 and accompanying music videos with creative overlays. While developing
10 MySongToYou, Mr. Pollack built a team of advisors and a management team and
11 also secured funding for the company.
12 22. To protect its intellectual property, MySongToYou applied for a patent
13 on November 23, 2010. This patent application ultimately led to the issuance of the
14 ’911 Patent.
15 23. MySongToYou later rebranded as Playvuu, Inc. and refocused its
16 efforts on creating a mobile platform where users could easily edit and share videos
17 of themselves. The platform featured one-click editing that allowed users to add
18 backgrounds and foregrounds, animations, filters, and special effects. With more
19 focus on video, Playvuu added to its team former and current executives from
20 Disney, Gap, Old Navy, DreamWorks, VitaminWater, ESPN, Roc Nation, Hyatt,
21 eBay, Samsung, Sony and Mattel, among others. At the time, Playvuu was the first
22 of this kind of mobile application. These types of tools had never before been
23 provided to users through a mobile application. Today, such technology has since
24 been widely adopted.
25 ACTS GIVING RISE TO THIS ACTION
26 24. On Wednesday, October 5, 2016, then-Perkins Coie LLP Partner
27 Michael Glaser introduced Mr. Pollack to Steve Hwang, Director of Operations and
28 Strategy at Snap, Inc. Mr. Hwang conveyed that Snap was interested in learning
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1 more about Playvuu as soon as possible. Mr. Hwang immediately set up a meeting
2 for the following Monday (October 10, 2016) for Mr. Pollack to come and present
3 the Playvuu App at Snap’s headquarters in Venice Beach. Mr. Pollack believed that
4 the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the possibility of Snap acquiring the
5 technology developed by Playvuu.
6 25. On October 10, 2016, Mr. Pollack brought then-Playvuu Chief
7 Operating Officer (COO) Adam Sexton to attend the meeting at Snap’s headquarters.
8 On Snap’s side, Mr. Hwang was joined by Dena Gallucci, a senior manager at Snap.
9 At the meeting, Mr. Pollack demonstrated the Playvuu App’s features and discussed
10 many of the ideas described in the ’911 Patent. He provided a video demonstration
11 of the technology and provided additional information about the features in a
12 PowerPoint presentation. Among the features of the Playvuu App which Mr. Pollack
13 demonstrated were the overlay and augmented reality features. Mr. Pollack told
14 Mr. Hwang and Ms. Gallucci that the technology he developed was being patented.
15 Mr. Hwang and Ms. Gallucci spent considerable time at the meeting asking
16 questions about the features in the Playvuu App. Referencing the Playvuu App
17 features, Ms. Gallucci stated “Evan would love this,” referring to Snap’s founder and
18 CEO, Evan Spiegel. Ms. Gallucci and Mr. Hwang then asked for more information
19 about the overlay and augmented reality features.
20 26. At their request, on October 17, 2016, Mr. Pollack emailed Mr. Hwang
21 and Ms. Gallucci the PowerPoint presentation he had presented during the
22 October 10, 2016 meeting, along with the additional information requested by Snap
23 regarding the overlay and augmented reality technology Playvuu had developed.
24 However, within hours of emailing the presentation and other written materials,
25 Mr. Pollack surprisingly received a curt reply thanking him for sending the
26 presentation but also stating that Snap “didn’t see a fit” for Playvuu’s technology.
27 27. Despite Ms. Gallucci’s email to Mr. Pollack stating that Snap “didn’t
28 see a fit” for Playvuu’s technology, over the months and years after the October 10,
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1 2016 meeting, Snap implemented many of the Playvuu App features presented by
2 Mr. Pollack in its Snapchat App. As an example, in its July 5, 2017 update, Snap
3 added a feature to its Snapchat App which allows users to add similar overlays,
4 filters, and special effects to their photos and videos created using the SnapChat App.
5 28. Mr. Pollack has since given notice to the public of the ’911 Patent by
6 listing the invention on Playvuu’s website (www.playvuu.com/). Many of the
7 features covered by the ’911 Patent are being infringed by at least Snap’s Snapchat
8 App.
9 COUNT 1: INFRINGEMENT OF U.S. PATENT NO. 10,931,911
10 29. Playvuu incorporates by reference and re-alleges all the foregoing
11 paragraphs of this Complaint as if fully set forth herein.
12 30. Snap has directly infringed, and continues to infringe, the claims of the
13 ’911 Patent, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, without authority
14 and in violation of 35 U.S.C. § 271, by making, using, offering to sell, and/or selling
15 products, such as the Snapchat App, that satisfy each and every limitation of one or
16 more claims of the ’911 Patent.
17 31. Snap has indirectly infringed, and continues to indirectly infringe, one
18 or more claims of the ’911 Patent by knowingly and intentionally inducing others to
19 directly infringe, either literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, by providing an
20 infringing product to its customers or other third parties. For example, Snap, with
21 knowledge that the Snapchat App infringes the ’911 Patent, at least as of the date of
22 this Complaint, knowingly and intentionally induced, and continues to knowingly
23 and intentionally induce, direct infringement of the ’911 Patent by providing the
24 Snapchat App to end users. Snap provides Snapchat App user guides and
25 documentation on their website that instruct users how to use the Snapchat App.1
26

27 1
See https://support.snapchat.com/en-US/a/capture-a-snap (last accessed on June 1,
28 2022).
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1 32. As a non-limiting example, the Snapchat App practices the method of at

2 least Claim 1 of the ’911 Patent. The description of infringement is included in a
3 non-limiting claim chart attached as Exhibit B. Playvuu reserves the right to modify
4 this description, including, for example, based on information about the Snapchat
5 App or Snap’s other products that Playvuu obtains during discovery.
6 33. Snap’s infringement has damaged and will continue to damage Playvuu,
7 which is entitled to recover the compensatory damages resulting from Snap’s
8 wrongful acts in an amount to be determined at trial, including but not limited to lost
9 profits, Snap’s profits, disgorgement, and in any event no less than a reasonable
10 royalty.
11 34. At least as of the filing of this Complaint, Snap is on notice that it is
12 infringing the ’911 Patent. Any infringement after notice is willful.
13 35. Snap’s infringement has caused, and will continue to cause, irreparable
14 injury to Playvuu, for which damages are an inadequate remedy, unless Snap is
15 enjoined from any and all activities that would infringe the claims of the ’911 Patent.
16 PRAYER FOR RELIEF
17 WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests:
18 A. A Judgment that Snap has infringed, infringes, and continues to
19 infringe, one or more claims of the ’911 Patent, literally and/or under
20 the doctrine of equivalents;
21 B. A Judgment that Snap has actively induced, and continues to actively
22 induce infringement of one or more claims of the ’911 Patent, literally
23 and/or under the doctrine of equivalents;
24 C. A Judgment that Snap’s infringement was willful;
25 D. An award of damages to adequately compensate Playvuu for Snap’s
26 patent infringement, such damages to be determined by a jury, and an
27 accounting to adequately compensate Playvuu for the infringement;
28 E. A trebling of damages due to Snap’s willful infringement;
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1 F. An order finding that this is an exceptional case under 35 U.S.C. § 28

2 and awarding Playvuu attorneys’ fees;
3 G. Costs and expenses in this action;
4 H. An award of prejudgment and post-judgment interest;
5 I. A Judgment that Snap be preliminarily and permanently enjoined from
6 infringing and/or inducing the infringement of the ’911 Patent; and
7 J. Such other further relief, in law or equity, as this Court deems just and
8 proper.
9 DEMAND FOR JURY TRIAL
10 Pursuant to Rule 38 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Playvuu
11 respectfully demands a trial by jury on all issues triable by jury.
12

13 Dated: August 24, 2022

14 PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN LLP
15

16 By: /s/ David J. Tsai

17
Attorneys for Plaintiff
18 Playvuu, Inc.
19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28
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