Trend Micro bites Barracuda (and wakka wakka)

It's Wednesday's IT Blogwatch in which security software company, and patent filer, Trend Micro tries again to collect a fee. Not to mention the ghosts of video games past ...

Groklaw has every detail:

We have another Pick Your Brain request. This one comes from Barracuda Networks, the email and web security appliances company, but it's about an attack on ClamAV, the Open Source antivirus product.

Barracuda includes ClamAV in some of its enterprise solutions, although it's a small part of what Barracuda does. And Trend Micro has accused ClamAV of infringing a patent it owns, #5,623,600. It specifically has named Barracuda Spam Firewall, the Barracuda Web Filter, and the Barracuda IM Firewall as infringing. Trend Micro has been trying to get Barracuda to either pay license royalties for including ClamAV or stop using ClamAV in its products. [read more]

Matt Asay knows what's what:

Barracuda doesn't even import ClamAV. It downloads the open-source software from Sourceforge, whose servers are based in the U.S. ClamAV is owned and developed by a U.S.-based company, Sourcefire. Trend Micro knows this. [read more]

Donna's got a flash:

At the center of the controversy is a Trend Micro patent the company says covers virus scanning of a server, such as a gateway or appliance, before data is received by a client computer. But while Trend Micro officials say they are only defending their turf, Barracuda Networks is casting the situation as an attack on open-source software. [read more]

Andy "I'm smart as a fifteen year old" Oram says:

The Trend Micro patent (5,623,600) simply suggests that virus filtering be provided in a firewall. That’s all. Patents are supposed to cover things that are novel, and not obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art. This patent meets neither criterion. Although it was filed in 1995 and granted in 1997, Barracuda has found a good deal of written evidence that filtering at the router was widespread earlier. And if lots of people are installing virus filters on their desktop computers throughout a company–any fifteen-year-old could say, “Why don’t you put it all in one place under the control of people who know what they’re doing?” [read more]

Bruce Byfield has a byline:

Barracuda Networks is actively seeking the support of the free and open source software (FOSS) community in its battle against a patent suit brought against it by Trend Micro. ... Although the case is just now being publicized, FOSS legal experts have been following it for some time. Like Trend Micro's representatives, they are understandably cautious about commenting on a case that is still being heard, but the two experts Linux.com consulted suggest that possible reasons exist for declaring the patent invalid despite its widespread use in the last decade. [read more]

Ryan Paul remembers the past, fears the future :

It is important to remember that when circumstances deprive an organization of the ability to provide adequate computer security, society as a whole bears the burden of the aggregate risk. Consider the relevance of this point in the context of gateway antivirus filtering software. If Trend Micro's patents prevent free distribution of ClamAV and some organizations consequently decide to abandon gateway antivirus filtering altogether, their machines become vulnerable to the risk of infection and could become part of botnets that send more virus spam.
...
Barracuda's meticulous ITC filing is practically a comprehensive overview of the history of server-based antivirus software in the time prior to Trend Micro's work in the field. [read more]

And finally... Pac-Man goes to University ...

Buffer overflow:

• MacRumors: Apple Selling Apple TV Near Cost?
• Bruce Schneier: Security vs. Privacy
• Jason Snyder: Job hunt 2.0: Get paid to be interviewed
• Steve Duplessie: Value
• Tech Trader Daily: VMware Down 30% As Growth Disappoints; Now What?
• Ed Bott: Windows 7 = Vista Release 2
• Brad Stone: Slashdot Founder Questions Crowds Wisdom

Other Computerworld bloggers

• Mike Elgan: Army's iPod translator to be available for consumers
• Shark Tank: Think it'll help?
• Douglas Schweitzer: Does your vote really count?
• Seth Weintraub: SSD-powered MacBook Pro wait is (almost) over
• Shark Bait: Who needs server room cooling ...

Computerworld editor Joyce Carpenter compiled IT Blogwatch today. Regular Blogwatcher Richi Jennings will return next week.

Previously in IT Blogwatch

• Cisco Switch (and Mw: 3 months)
• Speaking of search (and Web 2.0 flowchart)
• MacBook Air reviews are in (and Joyce, and Ken)