DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in security software and solutions, announced Wednesday that Judge Leonard Stark for the U.S. District Court of Delaware invalidated two Intellectual Ventures patents that have been asserted against Trend Micro since 2010. Judge Stark ruled that the patents were too abstract and not patent eligible. Trend Micro applauds the court’s decision which voids the need for a trial in early May.

“At Trend Micro, we recognize how important patent rights are for companies who invest millions of dollars in research and development, in addition to the human capital required to create innovative products in a competitive industry like software security,” said Eva Chen, CEO, Trend Micro. “We respect the judge’s decision that patents should protect new, original thinking and generic or abstract ideas do not become patentable merely because they are embodied in software. This validation is positive for our entire industry.”

Intellectual Ventures sued Trend Micro in 2010, seeking $150 million for its alleged infringement of U.S. Patents 6,460,050 (‘050) and 6,073,142 (‘142), along with two other patents that are no longer being asserted against Trend Micro. The ‘050 patent concerns generation of a digital identifier for email messages through a method of filtering. The ‘142 patent describes an “automated post office” which allows for the analyzing and filtering of vetted emails recognized to be unsafe.

In November 2014, Trend Micro moved for judgment that the two patents are invalid under the U.S. Supreme Court's Alice decision. However, the hearing didn’t occur until April 10 of this year. After Wednesday’s ruling, Judge Stark canceled the trial that was slated to begin on May 11.

“Trend Micro agrees that Judge Stark's opinion has applied the law correctly,” said Felix Sterling, SVP & general counsel, Trend Micro. “We have always firmly believed that the case has been based on an overbroad construction of invalid patents since we were targeted by Intellectual Ventures in 2010. The decision provides vindication on this issue and we are appreciative of the court’s ruling, in addition to the tireless efforts of our internal and external legal teams to defend Trend Micro from this meritless litigation.”

During the course of these proceedings, Trend Micro has been represented by Yar R. Chaikovsky and D. Stuart Bartow of Paul Hastings LLP, David L. Larson and Christopher D. Bright of McDermott Will & Emery LLP, and Karen Jacobs and Michael Flynn of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell LLP.

For more information regarding the case, please see Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Trend Micro Inc. et al., case number 1:12-cv-01581, residing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

About Trend Micro

Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in security software, strives to make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Built on 26 years of experience, our solutions for consumers, businesses and governments provide layered data security to protect information on mobile devices, endpoints, gateways, servers and the cloud. Trend Micro enables the smart protection of information, with innovative security technology that is simple to deploy and manage, and fits an evolving ecosystem. All of our solutions are powered by cloud-based global threat intelligence, the Trend Micro™ Smart Protection Network™ infrastructure, and are supported by more than 1,200 threat experts around the globe. For more information, visit TrendMicro.com.