Description
Apple Inc convinced a US appeals court on Thursday to uphold a patent court ruling that could jeopardize a $502 million verdict for patent licensing firm VirnetX Inc in the long-running fight of companies for privacy software technology. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a decision by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that invalidated the two patents that VirnetX had accused Apple of infringing. Company representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The two companies fought a 13-year court battle that included multiple lawsuits and appeals. An East Texas jury awarded VirnetX $502 million in 2020 after ruling that Apple infringed the virtual private network (VPN) patents at issue in Thursday's decision.
Apple appealed the verdict separately, but the Federal Circuit has yet to rule on the case. The court heard combined arguments in the two cases in September, with both sides saying upholding the decision to void the patents would also likely overturn the jury's decision.
"If the court upholds the [USPTO's] decision, we have a big problem," VirnetX attorney Jeff Lamken of MoloLamken said during the September hearing. "I don't think we have a binding trial."
The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld rulings by the USPTO's Patent Trial and Appeal Board that the patents were invalid in light of previous publications describing the same inventions.
VirnetX separately won a $302 million verdict against Apple in an East Texas court in 2016, later increased to $440 million, following related allegations that the tech giant used its Internet security technology in functions such as FaceTime video calls.
