Innovator of High-Performance Computing, Kove IO, Files Lawsuit Against Amazon Web Services

Award winning innovator Kove IO, Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS). The lawsuit challenges foundational aspects of AWS’s cloud-based products and services, including how data is efficiently and scalably stored and retrieved.

The patents asserted by Kove cover technology that enables the modern cloud. Kove’s inventors developed and patented technology that allowed hyperscalable distributed "cloud" storage years before the advent of the cloud. The MIT Technology Review described distributed storage technology based on hash tables as a top 10 emerging technology that will change the world. This was five years after the first of Kove’s patent applications covering this very technology.

The two co-inventors of the patents, Drs. John Overton and Stephen Bailey, met as Ph.D. candidates at the University of Chicago in the 1990’s. They foresaw scalability limitations of conventional storage systems. Kove IO’s patented technology fundamentally changed scaling limitations, making hyperscalable cloud storage seen today possible.

The lawsuit alleges that AWS uses Kove’s technology as a building block of its cloud business. As explained by Kove’s CEO, Dr. Overton, "As the amount of data stored in the cloud grew exponentially, there needed to be a way of storing and locating it that was more dynamic and adaptable, otherwise the system can only be so big." The Complaint filed today by Kove explains that these limitations needed to be removed for AWS to be able to offer its popular cloud storage platform.

"This has been a labor of love, and we are proud of our inventions," said Dr. Bailey. Dr. Overton added, "The protection of intellectual property is essential to the survival of small companies like ours operating in a world of global giants. We are grateful for the chance to have the contribution of our innovations measured by a jury."

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Kove is represented by Reichman Jorgensen LLP.