For ten years Apple and VirnetX have been battling in court, VirnetX argues that Apple’s VPN on Demand and FaceTime uses its technology, reported by Bloomberg.Â
A jury in Texas decided that Apple should pay $503 million for infringing virtual private network technology patented by software security firm VirnetX.
The legal battle between Apple and Nevada-based VirnetX involved data transmission security in devices such as iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, according to court documents.
Apple said, “We thank the jury for their time and appreciate their consideration but are disappointed with the verdict and plan to appeal. 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.”
Earlier this year, a US appeals court rejected Apple’s request to reconsider a split decision ruling that found it infringed on VirnetX patents.
The ongoing court fight has gone back and forth, with a federal court in Texas ordering Apple in 2018 to pay VirnetX $502.6 million for violating four patents relating to internet-based communications, which refers to the underlying technology behind Apple’s FaceTime and iMessage.
A three-judge panel voided that $502.6 million amount in November of 2019.
However, the judges did not void a jury’s finding that some older iPhone models infringed two VirnetX patents. It was that finding that Apple sought to have the appeals court reconsider.
