John McAfee is one of the biggest names in the tech industry; or was, he’s had a very strange run of news in recent times. This latest turn of events is about par for the course, as the creator of the McAfee anti-virus is suing Intel for the right to use his name in branding again.
The problems began when McAfee joined online gaming company MGT Capital Investments as CEO and chairman; where he planned on renaming it John McAfee Global Technologies Inc.
Unfortunately, Intel reminded him that he had sold the trademark to his name to the microprocessor maker; which means that he cannot use it for other marketing purposes. Rebranding MGT Capital would amount to a trademark infringement, and therefore would not be allowed.
McAfee has filed for a civil suit to allow him to use the name, claiming that he did not assign the rights to his personal name to Intel and that the agreement does not include a non-compete clause. Complicating matters is the fact that Intel has dropped the McAfee name from its security suite, and has been calling it Intel Security for years now.
Intel also has its own plans for the McAfee brand. The company is planning to sell its security suite, and believes that the name will increase the value of the business. People familiar with the matter believe that it is currently worth about $3 billion (about RM12 billion), and Intel has already begun soliciting bids for the sale.
[Source: Bloomberg]
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