Sourcefire on Friday announced it has acquired the open-source ClamAV gateway antivirus and antimalware project for an undisclosed price.

The deal includes related trademarks, as well as the copyrights held by the five principal members of the open-source antivirus team, including project founder Tomasz Kojm. In a statement, Martin Roesch, Sourcefire’s founder and CTO, said the company intends to “continue to invest in the ClamAV technology, much as we have with Snort and Snort.org.”

Snort, the open-source intrusion-detection system, was originated by Roesch prior to his founding of Sourcefire, his business stake in commercializing Snort-based intrusion-detection and intrusion-prevention systems. Snort remains open-source IDS/IPS technology today.

“Sourcefire pioneered the business of balancing commercial solutions with open source innovation, and we intend to apply those same Snort sensibilities to the ClamAV project.,” Roesch stated.

ClamAV is being used today as antimalware protection in network security products. In a statement, ClamAV project founder Tomasz Kojm called Sourcefire a “well-respected company in the open source arena” and said he looked forward to the future growth of the ClamAV technology and community.

Sourcefire plans to hold a conference call later this morning to brief investors on its acquisition, the first since its initial public offering in March.