Trend demands licensing for gateway virus scanning idea.
Barracuda Networks
has announced it is fighting a legal battle against
Trend Micro
, who has claimed US patent rights to the concept of scanning traffic passing through network proxies for malware.
A licensing issue has been running between the two firms since late 2006, when
Trend
lawyers contacted
Barracuda
requesting a licensing deal.
Barracuda
‘s use of open-source anti-virus scanner
ClamAV
in its gateway products was seen as an infringement of a patent on the idea, held by
Trend
since 1995 and apparently covering many forms of malware scanning on files passing through firewalls, mail servers and other gateway systems.
Barracuda
argues that
Trend
was not the first to think of the idea, and also that as it is not importing any technology into the US the patent restrictions are invalid anyway. In a strongly worded press release and a section of the company’s website dedicated to fighting the patent claim,
Barracuda
has announced its decision to fight the claims, and issued a public request for information on similar products in existence prior to the patent’s filing in 1995, to support its ‘prior art’ argument.
Barracuda
‘s press release is
here
and more detailed legal arguments
here
. More commentary from a
CNet
blogger is
here
and coverage on
LinuxWorld
is
here
.
Posted on 29 January 2008 by
Virus Bulletin
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