In the ongoing story of Apple vs VirnetX, Reuters reports that a federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas has sentenced in favour of VirnetX, simply by commanding Apple to pay $302.4 million in damages. The amount also included the amount for a violation of two patents by the Cupertino company regarding its Messaging service.
Apple Ordered To Pay $302 Million Infringement Penalty
Apple was sentenced by a court in Texas, to pay $ 302.4 million dollars to the company VirnetX Holding Corp. infringement of the patent that is used to secure communications on computers and mobile devices.
This amount also included the amount for an infringement of two patents by the Cupertino company regarding its Messaging service.
Tyler’s court in Texas, said this Friday that Apple infringed two patents related to features of its service FaceTime calls. The compensation that the Cupertino company have to pay is related to damage caused by misuse of VirnetX technology, namely Virtual Private Network on Demand (VOD).
This was the third trial of a case that began in 2010. The Court of Appeal confirmed a part of the first verdict, where Apple has infringed two patents VOD, leaving only to determine the amount that Apple have to pay. Separately, the same court ordered a reconsideration concerning the infringement of two other patents used by FaceTime.
In the second trial, VirnetX demanded the amount of 625.6 million dollars, with the argument that the technology was being used in two new Apple products. This request, however, was not accepted by the court, considering that this argument was pointless.
On 26, the company argued again that the value was justified in view of the millions of dollars that Apple had conducted the sales of these products. Apple responded by saying that the VirnetX would not be entitled to more than 25 million dollars.
The VirnetX, which had at the end of 2015 with only 20 employees, failed to succeed with their software and depends on financially, almost entirely, the patent licensing. Its last major deal was a deal with Microsoft, worth 23 million dollars, which was closed in December 2014.
The VirnetX was actually founded by the former employees of SAIC Inc, who worked for the US government. The technology was patented resulted from work performed for the US National Security Agency (NSA) and involving the development of solutions for secure communications.
The Department of Patents and trademarks of the United States reviewed the four patents last September 9 and said that none of the four patents brings new inventions. This agency (which evaluates patents and trademarks) uses a different evaluation standard and it is easier for a patent to be considered invalid by this state agency than by a district court.
Still, the final decision will be up to the Court of Appeal of the US Federal Circuit in Washington that specializes in patent law. The court’s ruling to reveal the verdict, as it will use a legal standard for the Department of Patents and trademarks to review decisions of the district court. This means that VirnetX will have to overcome on both sides to finally get the money from Apple.
