IBM Guardium Data Security Products Face Patent Infringement Lawsuit

IBM is facing a lawsuit from QuickVault Inc., a patent owner, over its Guardium data security products. The complaint filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas alleges that IBM's products infringe on six patents related to forensic data tracking methods.

The patents protect methods for detecting and reporting policy violations of users by using similar methods as those used by QuickVault, according to the complaint. QuickVault claims it offered a license for IBM to use the patents earlier this year but was rejected.

Guardium products use endpoints and servers to detect, track, and collect metadata, allowing administrators to monitor and report policy violations.