DeepNines wins patent lawsuit against McAfee

Deep Nines Inc. announced today that it won its patent infringement lawsuit against competitor McAfee, Inc. On July 15, 2008, a unanimous jury in the Beaumont Division of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas found that McAfee’s IntruShield product line directly infringes, and that McAfee actively induced and contributed to its customers’ infringement, of DeepNines’ US. Patent No. 7,058,976 (the “‘976 Patent”).

Judge Ron Clark also ruled that DeepNines did not commit inequitable conduct while the application for the ‘976 Patent was pending, as alleged by McAfee. McAfee had originally alleged infringement of two McAfee patents and invalidity of the ‘976 Patent, but dropped those claims in the days preceding the trial.

DeepNines and McAfee have been involved in litigation regarding this patent for nearly five years, beginning with an interference filed by DeepNines in 2003 after U.S. Patent No. 6,513,122 (“the “122 Patent”) was awarded to McAfee. While the application for the ‘976 Patent was pending, the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded McAfee’s claims from the ‘122 patent to DeepNines through a process called an interference. After winning the interference in March of 2005, the ‘976 Patent went through another round of reviews by the United States Patent and Trademark Office, primarily based upon a third party protest launched by McAfee. Deep Nines slightly amended the ‘122 patent claims before they issued as the claims of the ‘976 Patent in June of 2006.

The ‘976 patent has gone through an interference, multiple reviews by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, a third party protest, numerous submissions of prior art and a trial. Despite this overwhelming evidence in support of the ‘976 Patent, McAfee disregarded the rulings of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and misrepresented ownership to their customers. The jury also found that McAfee falsely marked 14 of its products with the ‘122 Patent.