A US court in Texas has confirmed Apple must pay VirnetX USD 502.8 million to settle a patent infringement case. Virnetx won the suit in April 2018 but an appeals court ordered a new trial after eliminating part of the underlying findings on liability. "We are very pleased with the jury's verdict," said VirnetX CEO Kendall Larsen. "Once again the value of our technology has been upheld in a court of law. We are grateful to the jury for their attention, diligence and commitment during these challenging times.
The infringement covers communications system VPN on Demand, a feature that gives users access to virtual private networks. The companies have been litigating for a decade. VirnetX, which said its inventions stemmed from technology it developed for the US Central Intelligence Agency, argued that both VPN on Demand and Apple’s FaceTime features were using its inventions.
VirnetX had told the jury it was entitled to more than USD 700 million in this case. Apple said it owed about USD 113 million, claiming the royalty rate should be at no more than USD 0.19 cents per unit. The jury decided on USD 0. 84 cents per unit. Apple paid VirnetX USD 454 million in March 2020 to setltle another patent case.
