McAfee under Legal Fire for Patent Infringement

Dallas based Deep Nines, Inc., a network security solutions provider, has launched legal action against McAfee Inc. alleging patent infringement and false marketing. Patent number 7,058,976, issued to DeepNines on June 6, 2006, is the heart that drives the legal dispute.

The technology patented by DeepNines is related to the conjugation of a firewall and a signature-based intrusion detection/prevention solution (IDS/IPS) onto a sole inline appliance. While the Dallas company is already leading the score in its legal confrontation with McAfee, by winning an interference dated May 2005, the latter has continued to market Deep Nine patented products.

"DeepNines' focus has always been on developing products that solve fundamental customer pain points. Customers are demanding integrated solutions because they are the most secure, efficient and easy to manage, and we are thrilled to hold the patent for innovating a solution that meets these requirements," said Sue Dark, founder of DeepNines.

"We intend to protect our intellectual property, just as we respect the intellectual property rights of others," said Dan Jackson, president of DeepNines. "Although DeepNines continuously monitors the products of its competitors, at this point, our focus remains on McAfee for both infringing our patent and falsely marking its products with a patent that is invalid and purports to claim the same invention covered by our patent."