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Intellectual Ventures sues Symantec over patents, again

Mega patent company Intellectual Ventures takes aim at security company Symantec yet again in a new lawsuit.

Josh Lowensohn Former Senior Writer
Josh Lowensohn joined CNET in 2006 and now covers Apple. Before that, Josh wrote about everything from new Web start-ups, to remote-controlled robots that watch your house. Prior to joining CNET, Josh covered breaking video game news, as well as reviewing game software. His current console favorite is the Xbox 360.
Josh Lowensohn
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Intellectual Ventures, the controversial patent and technology firm founded by former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold, has sued security company Symantec once again.

In a new complaint (PDF), filed in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, Intellectual Ventures accused Symantec of infringing on three of its patents in some of its products.

The complaint targets Symantec's Replicator, Veritas Volume Replicator, and ApplicationHA products specifically, and claims the company "actively, knowingly, and intentionally" infringed on IV's patents with those products.

"We have been unable to reach an agreement with Symantec, and, in addition to their infringement of software security patents, we determined the company's server and storage management products also infringe IV patents," Intellectual Ventures' chief litigation counsel, Melissa Finocchio, said in a statement.

A Symantec spokesperson declined to comment.

The complaint is Intellectual Ventures' second against the security firm. It sued Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, and Point Software Technologies as part of a separate complaint in December 2010.

Updated at 2:33 p.m. PT to note that Symantec declined to comment on the complaint.