Apple Plans to Appeal $439M 'Final Judgment' in FaceTime Patent Lawsuit With VirnetX

VirnetX today announced that the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has denied all of Apple's motions in a longstanding FaceTime-related patent lawsuit between the two companies.

iPhone 4 FaceTime
The court also granted all of VirnetX's motions in the retrial and increased the royalty rates that Apple owes during the infringement period, resulting in a revised final judgment amount of $439.7 million.

"We are elated with the Court's Final Judgement of $439 million in that not only did it affirm the jury's verdict of $1.20 per infringing iPhone, iPad and Mac Product, but also added for willful infringement, interest and attorney fees. This is the third time a jury has ruled in our favor against Apple," said Kendall Larsen, VirnetX CEO.

VirnetX originally sued Apple in 2010 over allegations that FaceTime's peer-to-peer connection technology infringed upon its patents. VirnetX won its case in 2012, and Apple was hit with a $368.2 million judgment, but the appeals and retrial process has dragged on for over seven years until now.

Of note, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is a hotbed for patent infringement lawsuits given several favorable outcomes for patent holding entities like VirnetX. Some would even call the company a patent troll, although it does appear to offer at least one product of some kind.

A spokesperson for Apple confirmed that it plans to appeal this final judgment, according to TechCrunch. It noted that the motions can still be appealed even if the original case was already appealed and lost.

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Thursday September 25, 2025 1:11 pm PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept based on rumors This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report last month, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform ...
Tim Cook Rainbow

Apple Event in October? Here's What to Expect

Monday September 29, 2025 9:31 am PDT by
Apple's annual iPhone event is in the rearview mirror, but rumors suggest the company plans to release a handful of additional products before the year ends. Will there be another Apple event this October? We discuss the possibility below. Apple in October Apple's most recent October events were in 2021 and 2023. In 2022 and 2024, Apple did not host an October event. Instead, it...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year

Sunday September 28, 2025 2:08 pm PDT by
Apple's next MacBook Pro models will enter mass production soon, according to the latest information shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman said he continues to believe the new MacBook Pro models will be released at some point between late 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, meaning they should be available to order by March at the latest. Apple often...
iOS 26

Apple Continues to Prepare iOS 26.0.1 With Multiple Bug Fixes Expected

Sunday September 28, 2025 1:30 pm PDT by
Apple is preparing to release iOS 26.0.1, according to a private account on X with a proven track record of sharing information about future iOS versions. The account initially said iOS 26.0.1 would have a build number of 23A350, but they now expect the update to have a build number of 23A355. This suggests that the software update will include more bug fixes or changes than initially...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.0.1 With Fixes for Wi-Fi, Cellular, and Camera Issues on iPhone 17 Models

Monday September 29, 2025 10:12 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 26.0.1 and iPadOS 26.0.1, the first updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out earlier this week. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According to Apple's release notes for the update, iOS 26.0.1 addresses a bug that could cause aberrations in...
iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iPhone 16 Pro Max 80% Charge Limit: One Year Later, Was It Worth It?

Wednesday September 24, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
With the iPhone 15 series, I did an experiment and kept my iPhone's Charge Limit set at 80 percent for an entire year. It provided an interesting look at the impact of charge limits on battery longevity, so I decided to repeat it for the iPhone 16 line. Since September 2024, my iPhone 16 Pro Max has been limited to an 80 percent charge, with no cheating. As of today, my battery's maximum...
maxresdefault

New iPad Pro With M5 Chip Leaked in Unboxing Video

Tuesday September 30, 2025 8:39 am PDT by
An apparent unboxing video for an unannounced iPad Pro with the M5 chip was uploaded to YouTube today by Russian channel Wylsacom. The same YouTube account leaked the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip before it was announced by Apple last year, so this is likely a legitimate leak. Based on the box shown in the video, this appears to be a 13-inch iPad Pro with an M5 chip, 256GB of...
LG UltraFine 6K Display TB5

LG UltraFine 6K (32U990A) TB5 Display: Pre-Orders Open September 30

Monday September 29, 2025 6:21 am PDT by
Pre-orders for LG's new UltraFine evo 6K display (model 32U990A) with Thunderbolt 5 support will begin on September 30, according to a major U.S. retailer listing. LG first revealed the 32-inch display at CES 2025 in January, teasing its status as the first monitor to support Thunderbolt 5. At the time, LG only provided high-level specs, but left pricing, availability, and full technical...
iphone 17 ceramic shield

Regular iPhone 17's USB-C Charging Speeds Tested With Apple Chargers

Friday September 26, 2025 9:01 am PDT by
The website ChargerLAB has tested the standard iPhone 17 model's USB-C charging speeds with a variety of Apple's chargers, from 18W to 140W. The device reached a peak charging speed of around 27W to 28W with these Apple chargers:29W USB-C Power Adapter 30W USB-C Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter 35W Dual USB-C Port Compact Power Adapter 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Iridescent 1

Samsung Confirms Plan to Make Foldable Displays for Major American Company

Monday September 29, 2025 6:54 am PDT by
Samsung Display president Lee Cheong has confirmed plans to make foldable smartphone displays for a major American company, which is widely believed to be Apple. As reported in Chosun Biz, Cheong last week told journalists in Seoul that the company is accelerating preparations for mass production of OLED displays designed for foldable smartphones to be supplied to a "North American client."...

Top Rated Comments

gaximus Avatar
104 months ago
Whats the point of a "Final Judgment" if you can appeal it?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WatchFromAfar Avatar
104 months ago
So iphone 8 sales were lacklustre, the 10th anniversary Event at Steve Jobs's theatre went down like a damp squid, and only 46,500 iphone Xs ready at launch day.
and they've 'lost' Facetime case.
Nice.
It's "a damp squib" meaning an explosive that has gotten damp so it can't go off. Still you made me laugh :)
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
104 months ago
smh just pay it the company has $200 billion in the bank
I'd like $100 from you. Just pay it to me, you have the money in the bank. If you'd like I can file a small claim and receive a default judgement so we can continue this analogy.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sasparilla Avatar
104 months ago
I remember these guys:

http://anewdomain.net/who-is-virnetx-apple-must-pay-300m-plus-breaking/

Their founding owners were directly related to the U.S. national security establishment - and forced Apple to abandon encrypted phone to phone connections (no middle server)...Apple had to go to server pass through at the time. VirnetX had a patent on the direct client to client technology and wouldn't license it to Apple - not because it wasn't enough money, just wouldn't license it. Not sure where things stand now. But they weren't the only faux patent company the NSA etc. directly controlled and probably still control....
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
104 months ago
Apple has a product, so it’s hardly patent trolling.
Actually, Apple has sued over patent claims it doesn't use itself.

Also, as previously noted, Apple was part of a consortium that created a notorious patent troll called Rockstar.

In any case, VirnetX is not what most people call a troll, since they invented what they license, and do have app and library products using their patents.

Also, the patent wasn’t and isn’t on a “rectangle with round corners”, that’s just **** someone made up on the internet.
On the contrary, Apple DID manage to get a design patent on a rounded rectangle. Here it is. (Dashed lines don't count.)



Apple awarded design patent for actual rounded rectangle - Ars Technica ('https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/11/apple-awarded-design-patent-for-actual-rounded-rectangle/')

Apple did not try to sue Samsung using the more detailed actual iPad design patent. It wouldn't have worked, as none of Samsung's tablets had a round Home button or the same exact shape. So instead, Apple tried to use the above generic rounded rectangle patent.

The attempt failed. Along with courts all over the world, even the first set of California jurors decided that Samsung's tablets did not infringe it.

Attachment Image
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
104 months ago
The whole patent system needs to be overhauled. I'm not defending Apple if they did something wrong then they should pay up but small companies patent trolling big companies is not the way to run a business.
Normally a troll is defined as a company that buys up patents and then goes looking for offenders.

(Note: Apple did that themselves by proxy, when the consortium they belonged to bought Nortel patents and then created a patent holding company that did nothing but reverse engineer software to find infringements.)

VirnetX is different. Its officers are mostly the guys who actually invented what they license. Basically, they're living the American inventor's dream of coming up with something that lots of people will want to use and pay for. Nothing wrong with that whatsoever.

Worse, Apple's own internal documents showed that they knew they were infringing VirnetX patents, but went ahead anyway.

You are correct, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas is notoriously known as the home of Patent Trolls..
Many plaintiffs like East Texas and Delaware courts because they are quick, have technical experience, and especially because they favor patent holders.

In a similar way, Apple prefers northern California courts which seem to favor home state companies.

Likewise, Motorola used to favor filing in their home state of Illinois.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)