A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay $302 million in damages for using patented security technology from VirnetX in its FaceTime platform without permission.
The battle between the two companies has been going on for some time, with a jury previously ruling that Apple owed more than $600 million to the “non-practicing entity” VirnetX.
As Reuters reports, the new trial in Tyler, Texas was ordered by judge Robert Schroeder, who threw out VirnetX’s previous $625.6 million win over Apple due to the jury being ‘confused’.
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The latest retrial involved the jury determining damages on two VirnetX patents Apple had been found to infringe, as well as determining infringement and damages on a further two patents.
A report from Bloomberg states “the ultimate decision will lie with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, which specializes in patent law.”
In other words, the whole thing is far from over, with Apple undoubtedly looking into appealing the latest decision.
What’s more, Reuters reports Nevada-based VirnetX is also suing Apple over further security features and its iMessage platform.
The original case with VirnetX began in 2010, with the patent licensor being awarded $368 million in 2012, before that decision was thrown out in 2014.
VinetX’s lawyers then purued Apple with a second suit, which resulted in the larger $625.6 million verdict – one of the highest amounts ever for a U.S. patent case, before it too was thrown out prior to this latest trial.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
