Enterprise communications solutions developer F5 Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIV) has filed suit with the US Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington against Imperva Inc., run by president and CEO Shlomo Kramer, for patent infringement. F5 has asked the court for an injunction against sales of Imperva products that infringe on the patent. F5 is also seeking damages.
Imperva develops enterprise database security solutions and Internet-based applications. It is considered one of Israel's more promising start-ups. The company was founded in 2002, and it operates on a fairly large scale for a start-up, with an estimated $40-50 million in annual sales.
F5 claims that Imperva directly and indirectly infringed on F5's US Patent No. 6,311,278, entitled "Method and System for Extracting Application Protocol Characteristics" for the development of Imperva's flagship Secure Sphere product line for the protection of enterprise Internet applications. F5 says that Imperva committed the infringement "with knowledge of" the patent and that the infringement was "committed willfully".
Imperva has not yet filed a statement of defense.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 6, 2010
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