Zerify Inc (ZRFY)

[sillywog]

For those of you interested in following the patent, here are some links which discuss SFOR's patent, and suit against Phonefactor, an authentification company which was recently acquired by Microsoft. Now, Authentify is suing SFOR. Any of you legal minds out there may want to discuss these latest events with Kay and let us more feeble minds know what the differences in the patents are -- two -faactor vs multi-channel?

http://news.priorsmart.com/authentify-patent-v-strikeforce-technologies-l86Q/#pat-6934858

http://www.eweek.com/security/microsoft-phonefactor-slapped-with-lawsuit-by-obscure-patent-holder/

http://www.finextra.com/News/Announcement.aspx?pressreleaseid=49160

http://news.priorsmart.com/authentify-patent-v-strikeforce-technologies-l86Q/#pat-6934858 (this ink has the civil action and legalese)

And here is an article that was in Bank Technology News from December 2010 that is also interesting:

BANK TECHNOLOGY NEWS
PLUGGED IN
ID Firms Put Lawyers On Speed Dial
By Rebecca Sausner
DEC 1, 2010
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Will StrikeForce Technologies become the next Data Treasury-filing suits against the industry's biggest banks and authentication vendors that it says are trampling all over its soon-to-be-issued patent on out-of-band authentication techniques?

Developments of recent weeks have me wondering whether CEO Mark Kay and evp George Waller will soon be buying property in patent-friendly East Texas and settling in for what could be years of litigation against competitors like Authentify and PhoneFactor, and banks with home-grown out-of-band solutions.

In early November, StrikeForce issued a press release highlighting the U.S. Patent Office's "notice of allowance" for its patent application titled "Multi-Channel Device Utilizing a Centralized Out-of-Band Authentication System." The release was a shot across the bow to out-of-band authentication vendors, and a smug victory dance for StrikeForce, which has been pursuing patent protection for nearly nine years. "It looks like our day has come," says Waller.

And maybe not a minute too soon. The publicly-held company produced just $48k in revenue in the last quarter, on losses of $1.5 million, and does little out-of-band authentication business anymore. Instead, StrikeForce is focusing on the keystroke encryption software market. When it comes to potential licensing and litigation, StrikeForce alludes to the high road. "We're the good guys. We want to work with everyone that's out there delivering out-of-band authentication," Waller says, adding more ominously, "We would like to work with them. We will also vehemently defend our patent and claims."

Authentify and PhoneFactor don't seem worried. Both own patents to their own technology. "If anything, we may take a look at their claims and determine what they, (Strike Force) may have to license from us," says Authentify CTO John Zurawski. Intellectual property law professor Paul Ohm, of the University of Colorado Law School at Boulder, says competing patent claims are common, and litigation can last for years.

Conveniently-for StrikeForce's claims anyway-the potential fight comes as out-of-band authentication gains traction, says Avivah Litan, Gartner analyst and resident security expert. And with Facebook and Google recently adding authentication with a one-time-passwords sent via SMS, the concept will soon have more exposure.

But for StrikeForce's Waller, this is a redeeming moment. "When I was out there in 2001, 2003 talking and showing people out of band, people were saying, 'You're out of your mind,'" he says. "Everyone was looking at me the way they look at the Galileos of the world when they say the world isn't flat, it's round."