Invalidity dossier
US 5826014
Firewall system for protecting network elements connected to a public network
Current assignee: SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MANAGEMENT Corp
Added 9/21/2026, 9:30:43 AM
Active provider: DeepSeek · deepseek-flash
Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview: US5826014A
Title: Firewall system for protecting network elements connected to a public network
Patent number: US5826014A (application US08/595,957)
Inventors: Christopher D. Coley; Ralph E. Wesinger, Jr.
Original assignee: Network Engr Software
Current assignee (as listed): Scientific Research Management Corp; GraphOn Corp
Priority/filing date: 1996-02-06 | Publication/grant date: 1998-10-20 | Status: Expired – Lifetime (anticipated expiration 2016-02-06)
Purpose: The patent addresses the fact that Internet protocols (TCP and IP) provide little security, which "hindered the growth of commercial services on the Internet." A firewall is described as a system for isolating an internal network and/or computers from access through a public network, so that network elements can attach to and transact with the public network "without rendering the network elements susceptible to attack or unauthorized inquiry."
Plain-language scope (per the supplied text): The firewall is implemented on a stand-alone computing platform ("firewall box") dedicated to the firewall application, with no other applications, services, or processes except those supporting it (e.g., an operating system). The firewall application comprises multiple proxy agents that investigate and handle incoming access requests; a proxy agent is preferably assigned according to a port number designation indicated in the request. "Network element" broadly covers routers, computers, servers, databases, hosts, modems, and like devices. Classifications include H04L63/02 and H04L63/0227 (firewalls/filtering policies), H04L63/0281 (proxies), H04L63/1458 (denial of service), and H04L63/083 (passwords).
Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US5826014](/patent/US5826014)/en
What the excerpt does not establish: It does not provide the full claims, detailed description, or drawings; does not identify specific prior-art references or compare them; does not establish litigation outcomes, validity, or ownership-transfer details; and does not supply all limitations of the claimed invention. No missing facts have been inferred.
(Note: the source text was excerpted; omitted portions were not consulted.)
Generated 10/1/2026, 10:02:16 PM
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Litigation summary
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Proceedings on file (0)
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No PTAB proceedings on file. This patent has not been challenged via IPR, PGR, or CBM. The absence is itself a signal — well-asserted patents eventually attract IPRs. The LLM analysis below may surface filings the ODP feed hasn’t indexed yet.
PTAB challenges
AIA trial proceedings at the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board — IPR, PGR, and CBM. Petitioners, judge panels, claim-level invalidation outcomes from Final Written Decisions, and Federal Circuit appeals. The single most important defensive datapoint after litigation history.
Assignment history
Inventors, original assignee, and the chain of ownership recorded with the USPTO — including the correspondent attorney who recorded each assignment, since shell-LLC chains often share one repeat-player attorney even when the entity names look unrelated. Surfaces NPE / patent-troll patterns: shell-entity transfers, known asserters in the chain, repeat correspondent fingerprints, pre-litigation assignments, and bankruptcy fire-sales.
Prior art
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Obviousness
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Extensions
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Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.