Recode reports that a federal appeals court today threw out a previous ruling granting VirnetX Holding Corp $368.2 million in damages in its long-running patent lawsuit against Apple:
Apple had appealed a November 2012 jury finding that it infringed VirnetX’s patents for virtual private network, or VPN, technology through the FaceTime feature on its iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad products, as well as on its Mac computers… While agreeing that some patents were infringed, the appeals court said the verdict was tainted by incorrect jury instructions from the trial judge on how to calculate damages, and that the error was not harmless.
The case previously resulted in Apple changing the behaviour of its VPN On Demand feature in iOS after it lost the initial patent case to VirnetX.
The case isn’t over yet, however, as both companies will return to U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas work out what damages Apple will ultimately be on the hook for. VirnetX shares were down significantly today following the news.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Apple should buy VirtnetX and fire everyone.
“…what damages Apple will ultimately be on the hook for.”
What? Shouldn’t that be “what damages VirnetX will ultimately be on the hook for”.
Last time I checked, the loser of a lawsuit has to pay damages to the winner.
It doesn’t say that Apple won…the appeals court threw out the damages because the jury was improperly instructed on how to calculate them.
“While agreeing that some patents were infringed, the appeals court said the verdict was tainted by incorrect jury instructions from the trial judge on how to calculate damages”
Loser only pays in cases of fraud. Outside of that, losing doesn’t put either party on the hook for the other’s legal fees. That’s why most companies settle patent disputes regardless of the merits of the case.
Yeah, Apple is still the loser in this. VirnetX will just be getting less money than before.
FYI its Judgment with no “e”
patent trolls