The US Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by Apple as it seeks ways to avoid paying out €440 million in a patent infringement case that has been going on for ten years. The iPhone maker has been accused of infringing on Internet security technology patents held by Nevada-based technology licensing company VirnetX. VirnetX has sued Apple for charging fees for infringing four secure communication technology patents that were used in the FaceTime and VPN programs found on iPhone, iPad and Mac computers.
Patents
In 2016, a federal court found Apple to have infringed the patents and awarded VirnetX €302 million. This amount was increased to €439.7 million, which included interest and other charges. Last year, a US appeals court for the federal circuit in Washington also upheld the same ruling. In its argument, Apple said that the sanction was grossly inaccurate and also suggested that the case be closed since the United States Patent and Trademark Office had previously determined that one of the patents was invalid. Apple had previously challenged the patentability of the technology in all four of VirnetX's patents. He said that FaceTime-specific patents had all but been removed. The Patent Test and Appeal Board found that three other patents were still on appeal, while one of the four was invalid. Now, after the Supreme Court ruling, the case will be referred to the Texas District Court to enforce the penalties. In a similar case, Apple is fined €503 million for infringing the same patents for new Apple products. Although an appeal court ordered a recalculation of the fine, the VirnetX plaintiff does not expect this amount to be less. Shares of VirnetX, which has less than €2 million in annual sales, rose 18% after the news. Via: Reuters