McAfee Faces Lawsuit Over UTM Technology

Deep Nines claims to own a patent for a technology that makes it possible to combine a firewall and signature-based intrusion detection and prevention technology into a single appliance. Although McAfee was originally awarded the patent, DeepNines managed to get an interference ruling against the Santa Clara, Calif.-based vendor in March 2005.

Deep Nines, which uses the technology in its line of UTM and IPS appliances, wants to stop McAfee from selling products that incorporate the technology and is also seeking unspecified damages, Jackson said

"This is a big intellectual property case for us, and the issue comes down to ownership," said Dan Jackson, president at Dallas-based Deep Nines. "The government clearly says the patent is ours, but they continue to market and sell products that use the patented technology."

McAfee previously filed an unrelated lawsuit against Deep Nines over an accounts payable dispute, according to Jackson.

A McAfee spokesperson said the company hasn't yet seen a copy of Deep Nines' lawsuit and had no further comment.