Apple Loses Appeal in VirnetX Dispute, Could Owe Over $1.1 Billion

Friday January 15, 2021 11:31 am PST by Juli Clover

Apple has not been successful in reducing the amount of money that it owes VirnetX in patent infringement fees, with the Cupertino company today losing an appeal that would have vacated or reduced a $502.8 million award.

virnetx apple
According to Reuters, a federal judge today denied Apple's request for a new trial and claims that the award should not exceed $113.7 million.

Apple must pay the original $502.8 million that was awarded to VirnetX in October 2020, and combined with a prior $454 million award, the payments, future royalties, and interest could result in Apple paying VirnetX more than $1.1 billion.

Jurors in both of the lawsuits that VirnetX levied against Apple ruled in favor of VirnetX and said that Apple's FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN on Demand features had infringed on VirnetX patents related to communications security.

Going forward, Apple will need to pay 84 cents per iPhone or iPad for future infringements, which is more than Apple wanted to pay. Apple claimed future royalties should be zero or no more than 19 cents per unit.

The legal battle between the two companies has spanned more than 10 years, having first kicked off in 2010.

Tags: VirnetX, Patent Lawsuits

Top Rated Comments

farewelwilliams

35 months ago

this patent troll is the reason why you don't get open FaceTime.

Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)

polaris20

What product was it that VirnetX released this year? Last year? Oh that's right......nothing, just a crappy app to say “here, we made something, see?”

EDITED for clarity

Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jav6454

Patent laws need to be heavily amended. No one should be pray to patent trolls.

Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Surfer13134

In the end it's only going to hurt us the consumer. Apple is going to have to recoup that money somehow.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)

temna

Maybe they should just go ahead and buy the company.

Never reward bad behavior. Apple needs to fight more against paying one red cent to ANY patent troll. If you are not actually using a patent for a product, you shouldn’t be paid for the patent.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

shenfrey

They will find that down the Apple Couch.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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