Novadigm Inc said yesterday that it was very surprised by Marimba Inc filing a patent infringement suit against it. Marimba was awarded a patent for its Castanet software delivery and management software on July 6 (CI No 3,698) and says it has five more patents pending. Novadigm has had a patent suit out against Marimba since 1996, in which it alleges patent infringements over the fundamental fractional differencing technology used within Castanet.
The patent awarded to Marimba in July is entitled Method for distribution of code and data updates and the Novadigm suit was referenced in the patent document. According to Marimba, this indicates that the US Patent and Trademark Office has reviewed Novadigm’s patent, and decided the new patent is sufficiently different from it. Marimba’s president and CEO Kim Polese said in a statement that Novadigm has been for a time past and is currently infringing the patent. Novadigm is attempting to enter Marimba’s market space in any way possible, including using Marimba’s own patented technology and ideas to compete. Marimba says it is seeking monetary damages and an injunction to stop sales of its products.
But according to Albion Fitzgerald, CEO and chairman of Novadigm, his company has had its technology out since 1994, predating Marimba’s patent file. We are unconcerned, our technology is all on record. Fitzgerald said. He claimed he couldn’t see the purpose of Marimba’s suit. If [Marimba’s] patent maps ours, then it will be invalidated. If it doesn’t, then there is no case. Fitzgerald also says that Novadigm came out with its first integrated client technology back in 1995, and then moved on to application specific products for enterprise customers in 1997, something which Marimba is now doing itself, having started off as a push technology company.
The next stage of Novadigm’s suit against Marimba is scheduled for November, when there is a trial to hear Marimba’s counterclaims. The infringement trial itself takes place in the first quarter of next year.
Most of Novadigm’s revenue still comes from the older EDM Enterprise Desktop Management product line, but Radia – the software content and application management range which Novadigm positions as an alternative to push is now a factor in every sale according to Fitzgerald. The company announced its first quarter figures at the end of last month, showing revenue of $8.1m, up 23% from the $6.6m in the same quarter last year. Income was $0.3m compared with a loss of $0.5m last time.
