A Texas jury said Wednesday that Apple had to pay more than $ 600 million to U.S. computer company VirnetX following the violation of patents held by the latter.
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VirnetX, which closed the day’s regular session up 30 percent at $4.79, further gained 88 percent to $9.01 in the after-hours trading. With $216 billion in cash sitting in Apple’s coffers, the tech titan could easily pay the $625 million award. Earlier, VirnetX had sued the smartphone maker in 2010 for using its VPN technology in FaceTime video chats and managed to receive a significant payment to settle that matter.
The decision has yet to be confirmed by a judge, but Apple immediately announced his intention to appeal.
Of course now the boot is on the other foot it is moaning about how “cases like this simply reinforce the desperate need for patent reform”. All four of VirnetX’s patents have been found invalid by the patent office.
An ongoing patent suit between Apple and VirnetX had gone to jury in the East Texas Federal District Court after a week hearings. A verdict awarding $368.2 million in damages was thrown out on appeal in 2014.
“We are surprised and disappointed by the verdict”, the company said. It is not known when Schroeder will rule on that request. The patent infringements found in VPN security amounted to approximately $335 million, and on top of that, the various infractions found in FaceTime resulted in another $290 million.
The retrial also incorporated claims from a second lawsuit VirnetX filed against Cupertino, California-based Apple in 2012 over newer versions of the Apple security features as well as its iMessage application.
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The case is VirnetX Inc. v. Apple Inc., 12cv855, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Tyler).
