F5 Doesn't Like A10's Name -- But Sues Over Patents, Not Trademarks

Legal Issues

from the you-sunk-my-battleship dept

Tue, Apr 27th 2010 2:34am — Mike Masnick

johnjac points out that it's a bit odd that, in the middle of a patent lawsuit, data center provider F5 Networks complains that competitor A10 Networks name itself is an attempt to copy F5. Who knows whether the patent questions are legitimate, but names have nothing to do with patents, and it seems like a pretty big stretch for F5 to claim that a company that combines a letter and a number is automatically doing so "as a play, or allusion to, F5's corporate name." And, even if it were true, how would that matter if the discussion is over patents, not trademarks?

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Filed Under: lawsuits, patents, trademarks
Companies: a10, f5

25 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2010 @ 2:54am

0xF5 = 245
0xA10 = 2576

Hmm.. no that would be just silly. :D
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Ben, 27 Apr 2010 @ 3:37am

Not Unusual
My guess is that F5's lawyers convinced F5 that they wouldn't win on the trademark suit, so they put that information in the complaint to make A10 show that A10 had a history of copying F5.

I'm not a big fan of putting a totally irrelevant accusation like that in a complaint, but it's a pretty common practice.
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 3:46am

My keyboard sues F5 networks, for infringing on its use of F5. My keyboard clearly has prior art. (yes, I know, prior art has nothing to do with it, but names aren't patentable either.)
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Richard (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 4:06am

F5 Better watch it in case A10 comes and shoots them up with that big gun in its nose....
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abc gum, 27 Apr 2010 @ 4:53am

Re:
I thought one was not allowed to patent, copyright or trademark a number.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2010 @ 5:05am

Re:
Only at Techdirt do we immediately turn to hexadecimal to solve weighty problems. You do us proud.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2010 @ 5:05am

got no real fight, argue anything and hope something sticks
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bob, 27 Apr 2010 @ 5:56am

Hell
I thought this was about jet fighters not some lame assed IT company, crap.
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Matt, 27 Apr 2010 @ 6:02am

F5 makes load balancing hardware/software, among other security-related networking gear, and is not a datacenter provider. A10 also makes load balancing hardware/software, and from what I heard, their products were made by a few ex-F5 employees - so F5 probably has some legitimate reasons to go after A10 on patent infringement grounds.

As far as the name thing goes - both are pretty lame names, if you ask me.... Certainly not worth a lawsuit alone.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2010 @ 6:17am

F5 should be far more worried about its ability to compete with A10. I've used both and I'll choose A10 given the opportunity to choose, their support is far more responsive/cooperative. The licensing is not convoluted and frustrating, and the devices are every bit as capable. I suspect that this is just an attempt to hamstring them in court because F5 aren't competing well in the marketplace.
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Any Mouse, 27 Apr 2010 @ 6:31am

Hey, F5? 3M wants to talk to you about your name...
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William C Bonner, 27 Apr 2010 @ 6:56am

funny history on the names.
When I think of the F5 name, I think of an F5 storm, rated on the fujita scale. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale)

When I think of the A10 name, I think of A10 Tank Killer, showing my age, and remembering a game from 1991 featuring the A10 Thunderbolt military aircraft. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-10_Tank_Killer
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Joel (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 8:26am

Re:
Damn you!!! I was going to put this too... ]=
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woofwoof (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 8:43am

naming
trademarking a name can also be considered part of intellectual property infringement.
could a company get away with koka-kola?
mersedes bends?
a10 at first glance seems like a casual relationship- then you hear Arules, Acontrol, and then it goes from casual to (inmho) nefarious.
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bob, 27 Apr 2010 @ 11:10am

I think that Force ought to get involved with this. how can a # be inteeectual property.
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The Groove Tiger (profile), 27 Apr 2010 @ 12:09pm

The ability to fly with one wing ripped off by AA fire is way cooler than the ability to refresh your web browser
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Apr 2010 @ 2:56pm

By that reasoning, the makers of A1 steak sauce should be sending F5 a C&D? I'm pretty sure the A1 trademark has been around a lot longer than F5s.
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jl, 27 Apr 2010 @ 3:00pm

I guess they are going to sue L1 the biometrics company as well.
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jt, 2 May 2010 @ 8:28pm

F5 is losing steam and in its attempt to continue to monopolize and bully its clients, they are doing anything they can to attack their competitors, even something as petty as the accusing of name copying. What are they 3 years old?
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jt, 2 May 2010 @ 8:28pm

F5 is losing steam and in its attempt to continue to monopolize and bully its clients, they are doing anything they can to attack their competitors, even something as petty as the accusing of name copying. What are they 3 years old?
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Bart, 31 Oct 2010 @ 2:43pm

A10 name
I heard that a10 picked their name based on chinese sensibilities, something like the sound of '10' in chinese being near something lucky and 'a' meaning best.
From what I hear a10's products are a lot faster than f5's...so if they did copy something, clearly they left out the slowness feature.
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kno1unkno, 15 Jun 2011 @ 6:11am

Re:
well if f5 is having a hard time competing with them, then how is f5 closing on a billion dollar a year run rate and still growing every qtr. A10 hardware is garbage, i can build it and A10 is still small enough to give the mom and pop hand holding that some companies need. As A10 grows the support will change and so will the hand holding. A10 is a copy cat product of brocade and they just fired a vp of sales who left f5 for bringing F5s database to A10...wow what a great company, steals code and data bases. Learn about whats actually going on and then comment.
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Bill Gates, 24 Jun 2011 @ 11:34am

F#cK F5
I actually invented the load-balancer, and I hold a million patents to prove it, and I'm going to sue both of them. All kidding aside, my advice is for F5 to purchase A10, then destroy the technology. That's always worked for me whenever there's been supperior technology then Microsoft's.

Best regards,

Bill
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