McAfee is a household name in the antivirus arena.
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Controversial anti-virus pioneer John McAfee has been told by Intel he can’t use his own name to rebrand a new company because the chip giant owns the rights.
Intel then announced it was acquiring the firm in 2010 for a massive $7.7 billion. In the lawsuit filing, he says that the chipmaker has warned him that any use of “his name” will infringe on the company’s trademarks.
The lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of NY on 2 September, argued that at no point in the agreement between McAfee Associates and Intel had McAfee assigned the rights to his personal name via trademark or otherwise, or agree to restrict his right to do business using his own name.
Further, McAfee Inc. owns numerous registrations for McAfee and McAfee formative trademarks around the world.
Smith’s letter to McAfee-the-man adds that “through extensive use, the McAfee trademark is a strong mark and extremely well-known in the industry”.
John McAfee wants to put his name on a business again, and that’s got Intel hot under the collar, so it’s off to court they go.
McAfee sees things differently.
The letter also indicated that McAfee’s use of his own name for the company “would “suggest some affiliation or relationship” with Intel”.
Intel bought McAfee in 2010 and renamed it Intel Security, which makes some sense.
In the lawsuit, he and MGT both cite a 1991 document, which shows the sale of certain assets from McAfee Associates to McAfee Associates LP.
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Private equity firm TPG is among potential bidders for Intel’s McAfee unit and has held preliminary discussions with Intel about a deal that could value McAfee at as much as $3 billion, according to people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named because the process is private. The chipmaker could be anxious about the trademark infringement because of the buyout possibilities, it is now out exploring in the market.
