The parties and the patent

The proceeding is Amazon.com Services LLC v. Headwater Research LLC, IPR2027-00015. The petition names Amazon.com Services LLC and Amazon.com, Inc. as real parties in interest. U.S. Patent 8,832,777 is titled Adapting Network Policies Based on Device Service Processor Configuration, and the petition assumes an earliest priority date of January 28, 2009 without conceding it. Lead counsel is Jessica Kaiser of Ashurst Perkins Coie US LLP. Amazon supports the petition with a declaration of Dr. Charles D. Creusere.

What the claims cover

Claim 1, the only independent claim, covers a method performed by a network system. The system receives a device credential from an end-user device communicatively coupled to it over a wireless access network, obtains a service policy applicable to that device based at least in part on the credential, and obtains service processor authentication information associated with a service processor on the device, where the service processor comprises one or more device agents at least assisting to implement the service policy. Using that authentication information, the system facilitates execution of an end-user device service processor authentication procedure. Claim 2 adds that the network system comprises components such as an AAA server, a home location register, a PCRF, an access network authentication system, an admission system or a log-in system, and claim 3 lists components such as a service controller, a gateway, a router, a GGSN, an SGSN or a proxy.

The grounds and the prior art

All four grounds are obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103: Wright alone against claims 1 to 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14; Wright and Bittmann against claims 15 to 17, 19 to 22, 28, 29, 31 and 32; Wright and Durham against claims 8, 9, 12 and 23 to 25; and Wright, Bittmann and Durham against claims 16, 18, 23, 26, 27, 30 and 33. The references are U.S. Publication 2004/0123153 (Wright), U.S. Publication 2004/0148237 (Bittmann) and U.S. Publication 2007/0006282 (Durham).

The petition says that after the examiner rejected the original system claims over U.S. Patent 8,185,127, the applicants converted them to method claims and distinguished that patent, and that the examiner added the device agents limitation by amendment before allowance. It says the applicants submitted U.S. Patent 7,353,533, which issued from the same application published as Wright, and two other Wright family references, and that the examiner marked them considered without discussion. It cites the Board's final written decision in IPR2024-00809, which it says found claims 1 to 18 of related U.S. Patent 9,198,042 unpatentable over grounds including Wright.

Related matters

The petition lists four Eastern District of Texas cases involving the '777 patent: Headwater Research LLC v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 2:26-cv-00304; Headwater Research LLC v. AT&T Services, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00215; Headwater Research LLC v. T-Mobile USA, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00164; and Headwater Research LLC v. Cellco Partnership, No. 2:25-cv-00156. Headwater filed the Amazon case on April 16, 2026. Its complaint asserts the '777 patent in Count 3, alongside U.S. Patents 9,491,564 and 11,966,464, against Amazon devices that run Fire OS, and the case is assigned to Judge Rodney Gilstrap.

What to watch next

Under 37 CFR 42.107(b), Headwater may file a preliminary response within three months of the notice according the petition a filing date. Under the USPTO's interim Director discretionary process, any discretionary denial brief from Headwater is due within two months of that notice. Watch for the notice, those filings, and the institution decision.