AirDefense Files Patent Interference against AirTight Networks; AirDefense patents predate AirTight patent application by more than two years

Business Wire, Feb 22, 2006

ATLANTA -- AirDefense, the innovator that launched the wireless LAN security market, today announced it has invoked an interference action against a patent application accelerated by AirTight Networks related to "Monitoring a selected region of an air space associated with local area networks of computing devices" (U.S. patent No. 7,002,943). AirDefense has several pending patent applications which claim the same subject matter in the area of wireless intrusion protection. The AirDefense patents were filed in June 2002, predating the AirTight patent application which was filed in October 2004.

AirTight invoked a rarely used and generally discouraged process to expedite the issuance of its patent. While this action accelerates the granting of a patent, which may serve marketing efforts, it diminishes the patent's intended affect, rendering it for all intents and purposes unenforceable. Through the interference proceeding, AirDefense seeks to demonstrate to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) that AirDefense's earlier innovations entitle AirDefense to the patents on these technologies. Given that AirTight's applications were filed two years later, AirDefense will be the senior party in these proceedings.

"AirDefense has a rich IP portfolio, and we can prove that all of AirTight's claims are explicitly inherent in our patents which predate the AirTight application by more than two years," said Anil Khatod, president and CEO of AirDefense. "Interference will clearly establish AirDefense as the senior party and result in only one patent being issued at the end of the interference proceeding."

Occasionally two or more applications are filed by different inventors claiming substantially the same patentable invention. The patent can only be granted to one of them, and a proceeding known as "interference" is instituted by the USPTO to determine the first inventor entitled to the patent. About one percent of the applications filed with the USPTO become involved in an interference proceeding.

About AirDefense

AirDefense, the market leader in anywhere, anytime wireless security and monitoring, is trusted by more Fortune 500 companies, healthcare organizations and high-security government agencies for enterprise wireless protection than any other wireless security provider. Ranked among Red Herring's Top 100 Private Companies in North America, AirDefense products provide the most advanced solutions for rogue wireless detection, policy enforcement and intrusion prevention, both inside and outside an organization's physical locations and wired networks. Common Criteria-certified, AirDefense enterprise-class products scale to support single offices as well as organizations with hundreds of locations around the globe. Founded in 2001, AirDefense is based in Alpharetta, GA, and serves hundreds of government agencies and blue chip corporations. For more information, please visit http://www.airdefense.net or call 770.663.8115.