REDWOOD CITY, Calif. & SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - (Business Wire) Tumbleweed Communications Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Axway Inc. and an industry leader in managed file transfer, email security, and identity validation, today announced it has filed a patent infringement suit against Sendmail, Inc. in federal district court in San Francisco, California. Earlier this month, the Axway-Tumbleweed merger was finalized and Tumbleweed
’s operations are in the process of integration with Axway
’s.
Tumbleweed alleges that multiple Sendmail products infringe several of Tumbleweed's U.S. patents covering the management of email traffic at an enterprise’s gateway. Tumbleweed’s lawsuit seeks compensation for Sendmail’s unauthorized use of the patented technology, as well as an injunction prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or use of Sendmail’s Sentrion MP 301, Sentrion MP 302, Sentrion MPQ, Sentrion MPV, Sentrion DS products.
Tumbleweed first notified Sendmail in 2003 that it was using technology covered by Tumbleweed’s patents, and in 2005 Sendmail executed a patent license agreement under which it acknowledged the validity and enforceability of the patents and agreed to pay future royalties. Many industry players have licensed Tumbleweed’s email firewall patents, including, among others, Borderware, CipherTrust (acquired by Secure Computing), Entrust, IronPort (acquired by Cisco), Proofpoint, and Zix.
In 2008, however, Sendmail breached its patent license agreement with Tumbleweed by refusing to pay royalties, despite Tumbleweed’s repeated requests for payment.
Tumbleweed has attempted to reach an amicable agreement regarding this matter with Sendmail. Tumbleweed continues to invest millions of dollars every year in research and development to enhance its solutions for its customers, and the company seeks to protect its inventions by licensing its patents to those who use its intellectual property. Because Sendmail has refused to pay to use the patented technology, Tumbleweed has been forced to bring the matter to the court.
About Axway
Axway is the leading global provider of collaborative business solutions. Axway establishes the dynamic connections — within and among enterprises — that make companies easier to do business with. Spanning all industries, over 11,000 organizations in more than 100 countries depend on Axway to manage and control their business-critical information in motion — improving value chain efficiency, regulatory compliance and quality of service. Built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), Axway’s Synchrony™ solutions feature a highly flexible integration and B2B framework, business and technical analytics, and professional services. Axway also offers customized solutions for the financial services, life sciences and automotive industries. A subsidiary of Sopra Group, SA, Axway is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.
About Tumbleweed
Tumbleweed Communications Corp., now part of Axway, is an industry leader in managed file transfer, email security and identity validation, providing enterprise-class solutions to organizations of all sizes. Tumbleweed’s innovative products enable organizations to effectively manage and protect business-critical Internet communications, with capabilities that span secure file transfer, encryption, data loss prevention, and email security. Tumbleweed has more than 3,300 customers worldwide, including blue-chip companies across an array of industries such as Technology, Retail, Finance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Consumer Packaged Goods, Telecom, Energy, and the U.S. Government. The world’s most security conscious organizations rely upon Tumbleweed technology including Bank of America Securities, JP Morgan Chase & Co., the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the U.S. Department of Defense. Our award-winning products build on 15 years of R&D and 31 security patents in the U.S. alone – many of which are licensed by other security vendors. More information can be found at www.tumbleweed.com.
Tumbleweed is a registered trademark of Tumbleweed Communications Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Maura Landry
SHIFT Communications
617-779-1829
axway@shiftcomm.com
