Security Companies Blast Each Other With Patent Infringement LawsuitsSecurity Companies Blast Each Other With Patent Infringement Lawsuits

Computer security companies Secure Computing Corp. and Finjan Software, Ltd. are hurling lawsuits at each other over a patent dispute.

According to Finjan, the lawsuits relate to systems and methods used to protect computers and networks from hostile downloads and malicious code.

Secure Computing, an enterprise gateway security company, seemingly struck the first blow on Wednesday, filing a patent infringement and unfair competition lawsuit against Finjan, a Web security company, in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota. On Thursday, Finjan filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against Secure Computing and its subsidiaries, CyberGuard and WebWasher in U.S, District Court in Delaware.

In response to Finjan's move, Secure Computing, which claims it holds 80 patents worldwide, also filed patent infringement counterclaims against Finjan in Delaware.

In its suit, Secure Computing claims that Finjan's load-balancing security solutions, including its Vital Security Load Balancer NG-5300, infringe Secure Computing's U.S. Patent No. 7,171,681. It also asserts that Finjan is in violation of several unfair competition and false advertising acts.

Secure Computing's complaint seeks unspecified monetary damages arising from Finjan's alleged unauthorized use of Secure Computing's patented technology and for Finjan's alleged continued and willful false and/or misleading advertising statements.

"Finjan intends to vigorously defend against these allegations, and does not believe any of Secure Computing's claims have merit," the company said in an online release. Finjan also noted that it holds patents dating back to 1996.