The latest jury verdict that stretched too long; over the patents, for secure communications, ordered Apple to shell out $503mn to VirnetX.
The jury in Tyler, Texas, decided in a 90 minutes long session, the amount Apple owed to VirnteX in royalties for VPN on Demand, a feature that allows users access to virtual private networks. An appeals court had upheld an infringement finding regarding VPN on Demand.
VirnetX claimed that its inventions stemming from technology it had developed for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, were being used by both VPN on Demand and Apple’s FaceTime features.
VirnetX further claimed that it was entitled to more than $700 million. Apple had countered that it owed about $113 million, claiming the royalty rate should be no more than 19 cents per unit. The jury settled on 84 cents per unit.
“We thank the jury for their time and appreciate their consideration but are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. “This case has been going on for over a decade, with patents that are unrelated to the core operations of our products and have been found to be invalid by the patent office. Cases like this only serve to stifle innovation and harm consumers.”
Apple previously paid VirnetX $454 million because of a verdict over earlier versions of the features. Apple has launched an aggressive campaign to invalidate VirnetX patents, but its victories at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hadn’t come in time to avoid its losses in district court.
This trial involved a different case with newer versions of VPN on Demand. The trial was required after an appeals court threw out part of the infringement finding, saying the company had redesigned its FaceTime feature to avoid VirnetX patents so the $503 million damages awarded in this case had to be recalculated.
VirnetX, which has not been able to gain traction with its own Gabriel software, relies on patent royalties for its revenue.
In 2010, Microsoft Corp. in 2010 too had shelled out a $200 million settlement with VirnetX, before Apple.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.