A federal jury in Texas has ordered Apple to pay $302.4 million in damages to VirnetX Holding Corp. over the use of patented internet security technology without permission, included in its FaceTime communications app.
VirnetX, based in Nevada, is considered to be what is known in the industry as a patent troll. The company has no products in the market, but it makes money by licensing patents and then filing lawsuits against companies that infringe on them.
The patent battle between Apple and VirnetX started in 2010, when the patent troll filed a lawsuit against Apple in Texas for the infringement of four patents. Many cases on patent infringement are handled in courts in Texas, as these courts are known to favor plaintiffs who allege that other companies have infringed on their patents.
The amount of $302.4 million that Apple was ordered to pay to VirnetX came from a retrial that had the jury determine how much Apple needs to pay for two patents that were already found to have been infringed, and to determine if the other two patents were also infringed and the damages that will be associated with them.
The damages that the jury ordered Apple to pay is lower than what was awarded to VirnetX in 2012, when the jury said Apple owed $368.2 million in damages. The Court of Appeals, however, overturned part of the verdict, citing issues on the instructions that the trial judge gave to the jurors on how to calculate for the damages.
The highest amount that the jury awarded to VirnetX was back in February, when Apple was ordered to pay $625.6 million. The amount was one of the highest ever awards ever recorded in a patent case in the United States. However, the judge handling the case, Robert Schroeder, moved for the retrial, stating that the repeated references to the earlier case may have caused confusion among the jurors, leading to an unfair trial for Apple.
The case between the two companies, however, is not yet over, as there will be another trial to determine if Apple willfully infringed on the patents. If Apple will be found to have consciously made the infringements, the total amount that Apple will have to pay to VirnetX would increase. In addition to this second trial, Apple will also have to deal with another lawsuit that VirnetX has filed over the newer releases of security features by the company, along with features on the iMessage app.
However, for VirnetX to actually receive money from Apple, the case will have to once again go through the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, the specialty of which is patent law.
