Update: Apple says it will appeal.
We may have finally reached the finale in Apple’s years-long patent case with VirnetX. The firm announced on Monday that it was awarded $439.7 million in its case against Apple over patents it claims Apple used for iMessage and FaceTime.
VirnetX™ Holding Corporation (NYSE AMERICAN: VHC), an Internet security software and technology company, announced today that on September 29, 2017, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, entered a Final Judgement and issued its Memorandum Opinion and Order (“Order”) regarding post-trial motions resulting from the prior $302.4 million jury verdict (“Verdict”) for VirnetX in the ongoing patent infringement action between VirnetX Inc. (“VirnetX”) and Apple Inc (“Apple”).
The firm’s announcement highlights that the court sided with it on all motions filed:
The Court granted all VirnetX’s motions; motion for willful infringement and enhanced the royalty rate during the willfulness period by 50 percent, from $1.20 to $1.80, awarding VirnetX enhanced damages in the amount of $41,271,364.80against Apple thereby, granting VirnetX a total sum of $343,699,314.80 in pre-interest damages.
VirnetX’s case started picking up steam last year when the firm was seeking $532 million over patents related to FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN. Apple previously lost in court to VirnetX back in 2012 to the tune of $368 million, although that verdict was thrown out in 2014 before requiring a new trial.
While the $440 million penalty is a drop in the bucket for Apple, it’s surely a battle Apple didn’t want to lose as many have called VirnetX a patent troll.
Update: Apple tells TechCrunch it will appeal:
Apple has been in touch with us, and a spokesperson confirmed that it plans to appeal this final judgement. (The motions can still be appealed even if the original case was already appealed and lost.)
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