PRESS: US court rejects Kaspersky Lab’s claim against software ban

MOSCOW, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has dismissed two lawsuits filed by Kaspersky Lab against Washington’s ban on use of products of the Russian antivirus software maker by federal agencies, business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday.

A Kaspersky Lab representative said the company is disappointed by the decision and will contest it. Kaspersky Lab views these prohibitions “as a result of an unconstitutional process of making decisions in American entities of executive and legislative power,” the person said.

The company filed one suit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which issued a directive in September 2017 giving local officials 90 days to delete products of the Russian company from their networks. The department explained its move by an alleged cooperation of Kaspersky Lab with the Russian special services and the Russian law’s alleged permit to receive information from Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky Lab filed the second suit later to a Washington federal court, asking it to cancel several clauses of the law of national defense adopted in December 2017, which imposed a ban on installation and use of the company’s products by U.S. federal agencies in 2018.

The company’s revenue in North America fell 8% in 2017, the absolute figure was not disclosed. Its global revenue rose 8% on the year to U.S. $698 million in 2017.

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