Palo Alto Networks is facing a new patent infringement lawsuit from Juniper Networks, which is accusing the firm of wilfully infringing on six of its patents.
In the lawsuit, which was filed earlier this month in the US District Court for the District of Delaware, Juniper Networks claims that although the technology used to create its next-generation firewalls was invented by Palo Alto Networks founders, the patents officially belong to Juniper.
The founders of Palo Alto Networks were originally executives from Juniper Networks, who left the company back in 2005 to set up their own competing firm.
Juniper Networks, which is based in Sunnyvale in California, states in the complaint:
“Juniper focuses on delivering breakthrough innovations for our customers. As a leading high-performance networking company, we will take every appropriate measure to defend and protect our innovation,”
According to the lawsuit, Juniper is seeking an order to prevent misuse of its inventions, and a jury trial. The company is also said to be seeking unspecified damages from Palo Alto Networks, which will need to rely on its professional indemnity insurance to cover its costs if it loses the case.