Veeam claims legal victory over Symantec
Veeam CEO slams traditional vendors for attempting to bully new market entrants
Veeam has claimed victory in a long-running legal saga with nemesis Symantec.
The two vendors locked horns in 2012 when Symantec filed two lawsuits in the US District Court claiming that Veeam products infringed several of Symantec's data storage, restore and backup patents.
Veeam claimed victory in the first battle last year when it had announced it had successfully forced Symantec to drop the claims, and now says all of the remaining disputed patents have either not been enforced by the court, or dropped by Symantec.
William Largent, CEO at Veeam, slammed Symantec for issuing the legal proceedings over four years ago and said the vendor would "not be bullied" by traditional vendors.
"It is not unheard of in our industry for ‘traditional' vendors to fear change and for them to abuse the legal system in a vain attempt to stifle innovation and protect their legacy business," he said. "This case is a perfect example of this."
"Over the past four years, Veeam has stood its ground in contesting these unfounded claims.
"I am delighted that the USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) found in our favour, and I truly believe that our case sends a clear message to the market that innovators such as Veeam will not be bullied by assumed ‘established' vendors."
When contacted by CRN Symantec said it does not comment on ongoing legal cases.
Symantec makes consumer push
Veeam's comments comes on the same day Symantec announced the acquisition of identity protection provider LifeLock in a deal valued at $2.3bn.
The deal is the second multibillion acquisition made by Symantec this year after it acquired Blue Coat for $4.65bn, and 2016 has also seen it sell off Veritas to private equity firm Carlyle Group.
"As we all know, consumer cybercrime has reached crisis levels," said Symantec CEO Greg Clark.
"LifeLock is a leading provider of identity and fraud protection services, with over 4.4 million highly satisfied members and growing.
"This acquisition marks the transformation of the consumer security industry from malware protection to the broader category of Digital Safety for consumers."
One analyst at the time of the Blue Coat acquisition said the takeover "calls into question" Symantec's consumer business, as it focused more on its enterprise business, but TechMarketView analyst Martin Courtney said the acquisition comes at a time of transition for both the vendor's consumer and enterprise arms.
"Having sold off its Veritas information management business earlier this year before acquiring Blue Coat for $4.7bn, Symantec has been steadily refocussing its business around cyber security, both consumer and enterprise focussed.
"It already plays heavily in the consumer space through its Norton security division and the LifeLock deal adds credit monitoring and alerting capabilities to the portfolio."