Kaspersky sues Device Security for declaratory judgment

Kaspersky Lab has filed an action at the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida for declaratory judgment of patent noninfringement and invalidity against Wi-LAN Technologies Inc subsidiary Device Security LLC.

The complaint was filed in response to a letter from Device, dated September 18, 2013, which alleges Kaspersky infringed Device’s US patent 6,813,487, which covers a method and apparatus for securing data stored in a remote electronic device.

Kaspersky has long taken a tough stance against non-practising entities. It recently saw off a lawsuit from Lodsys, claiming it as a victory against patent trolls.

The patent in suit allows users to protect data stored in a remote electronic device, which is serviced by a network provider. If the device is stolen or lost, the subscriber may send a signal to the service provider, who will then attempt to contact the device via a wireless link.

Upon locating the device, the service provider will transmit at least one data recovery signal to the device to disable it and put any files on the device in safe mode.

Kaspersky claims it does not operate and control a network for subscribers to with remote electronic devices, and that users of its Kaspersky Mobile Security service, which does this, cannot use the application to report a mobile device has been stolen.

“The Device Security Patent is plainly not infringed by Kaspersky Mobile Security or any other Kaspersky product,” it said in the complaint.

The patent was filed in 2000, and states David Alan Trommelen as its inventor.

According to the Kaspersky, Trommelen had never worked in the telecommunications industry at the time of the patent filing, and that his knowledge of the industry, including concepts described in the patent, were learned from publicly available sources.