Sometimes, all a man has in this world is his name, but according to Intel, antivirus pioneer and living cautionary tale John McAfee doesn’t even have that.
Back in May, MGT Capital Investments announced that McAfee was joining the company as Chief Financial Officer, briefly sending MGT stock skyrocketing from 36 cents ($0.48) to $US5.38 ($7) a share. Shortly afterward, the company revealed it was in the process of acquiring D-Vasive, “a provider of leading edge anti-spy software” and intended to change its name to “John McAfee Global Technologies, Inc.”
According to recently filed court documents, however, Intel threatened to take legal action in June after learning of the planned name change — an alleged infringement of the “McAfee” trademark owned by Intel.
McAfee, of course, was the founder of the antivirus company that Intel acquired the trademark from, but Intel claims he “forfeited any right to use the McAfee name in connection with security solutions and services” when he sold his assets to the company in 1991.
Now, it looks the matter will be determined in court: On Friday, McAfee and MGT filed a lawsuit against Intel, including an “Asset Acquisition Agreement” from 1991 they say proves he, if nothing else, still owns his name.