Patented Technology + Open Standards: The Alchemy of Virtru

Founding a startup is a big risk, but challenging a tech giant in court for patent infringement? That’s a real test of courage. 

Today, Virtru announced that it reached a settlement with Microsoft in a patent infringement case we brought in 2022. Our case alleged that Microsoft's Purview Message Encryption feature (formerly known as Office 365 Message Encryption) infringed upon three Virtru patents related to sharing encrypted data. Virtru’s patented technology leverages a user's existing identity provider to allow recipients to access encrypted data without requiring new credentials. After more than three years of litigation, Virtru successfully concluded its case today.

This outcome demonstrates what my brother, Will, and I knew to be true when we founded this company: That we have something special here at Virtru. The technology that my brother invented and patented, when combined with the open standard Trusted Data Format (TDF), created something transformative: Information sharing that balances granular, military-grade protection with remarkable ease of use. 

This alchemy of patented technology and open standards has unlocked doors for Virtru over the past decade, evolving from email encryption to secure file sharing, to highly specialized use cases in the federal government and beyond. The TDF open standard is embraced by the intelligence community, the DoD, and NATO. While the work has expanded, our mission has been the same from day one: To unlock the power of data by creating a world where it’s always under your control — everywhere. We will stay the course and continue standing up for what makes Virtru a company unlike any other. 

Respect the people. Respect the data.