Invalidity dossier
US 7216173
Virtual private network software system
Current assignee: Varian Medical Systems Inc
Added 9/24/2026, 12:12:24 AM
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Patent summary
Title, assignee, inventors, filing/issue dates, abstract, and a plain-language overview of the claims.
Patent Overview — US 7,216,173 B2
Title: Virtual private network software system
Patent number: US 7,216,173 B2
Application number: US 10/154,445
Inventors: Tom Clayton; Richard Bruce Rakes
Assignee/current assignee: Varian Medical Systems Inc.; original assignee Varian Medical Systems Technologies Inc. (the source notes listed assignees may be inaccurate and that no legal analysis was performed)
Key dates:
- Prior art date: 2001-06-12
- Filing date: 2002-05-21
- Publication date: 2007-05-08
- Adjusted expiration: 2023-12-03; status listed as "Expired – Lifetime"
Purpose and plain-language scope:
The invention concerns data communications over computer networks, and more particularly virtual private network (VPN) software for effecting VPN-type communications over a public computer network.
The excerpt describes the security problem it addresses: conventional browser connections ("NLC") refuse unsolicited data but are limited in security and data integrity for highly sensitive communications such as credit card or medical information. Conventional VPN software, distributed via CD ROM and copied to each client, accepts only authorized communications and typically encrypts and decrypts data using algorithms and keys in or generated by the VPN software. The VPN software can establish a sort of unsolicited-input connection so client computers communicate more directly over a public network, and is "virtual" because the public still has access to the WAN's communication links. The excerpt ends mid-sentence describing how the VPN software structures its communications.
Classifications (per source): H04L63/0272 (virtual private networks) and related network security, software deployment, and protocol-layer classes.
What the excerpt does not establish:
The excerpt provides no claims (their text, number, or scope), no complete written description, and no detailed description of the VPN system's architecture, components, or methods beyond the introductory background. It does not establish the invention's actual inventive scope, nor any prior art, litigation, validity, or ownership-transfer conclusions. The excerpt is truncated ("Excerpt only; consult the source for omitted text").
Generated 10/1/2026, 9:32:00 PM
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Litigation summary
Past and pending lawsuits — plaintiffs, defendants, jurisdictions, outcomes, and notable rulings.
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
Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.
Obviousness
Combinations of prior art that suggest the claimed invention would have been obvious under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Extensions
Patent term adjustments, term extensions, continuations, divisionals, family members, and expiration dates.
Derivative works
Defensive disclosure: derivative variations of each claim designed to render future incremental improvements obvious or non-novel.