Trend Micro: Barracuda Suit Not About Open Source

[HelenaP]

Trend Micro: Barracuda Suit Not About Open Source


Robert McMillan, IDG News Service


Trend Micro may have received more than it bargained for in its software patent dispute with rival Barracuda Networks. In the past few months Barracuda's cause has been taken up by free software advocates, who see Trend Micro's patent claims as a threat to the open-source ClamAV antivirus project. That's because Barracuda uses ClamAV to be able to scan for viruses at the "gateway," where a local area network connects to the Internet. Trend Micro says it owns the technology behind this-- thanks to a patent it calls the "600" patent.

Barracuda argues that if the 600 patent is allowed to stand, the courts would be granting Trend Micro a monopoly in gateway antivirus scanning. Earlier this year Barracuda called on the open source community to help it prove that the 600 patent is not valid, much in the way that open source volunteers helped dissect the SCO-IBM lawsuit.

Trend Micro CEO Eva Chen, who is also one of the co-inventors of the 600 patent, discussed the dispute recently with IDG News Service. Following is an edited transcript of the interview.

Read the rest, here...

(Note: I think TM has been at this sort of crap long enough. I mean, while they have one of the best free products around for virus detection and removal (Sysclean Package), I have been irritated with them since they bought Merijn's CWShredder and HJT, adding it to their line of products.

I don't like this trend...

BTW, you can check out Merijin's KazaaBegone (about 3 years too late for me, LOL!) and BFU, here-
http://www.merijn.org/programs.php#bfu)

[rocket357]

hrmmm...perhaps I should take down my HAVP proxies...I might be in violation of a for-real patent!

Sigh...or perhaps I should file a patent for breathing...then anyone who breathes air would have to pay me a royalty.

Buncha bull...