Apple denied new trial in most recent VirnetX infringement case, may seek appeal

You might recall the defeats that Apple suffered in various courts over the years at the hands of intellectual property holding company VirnetX. The latter, considered a "patent troll" by many who follow such litigation, was awarded $502.6 million from Apple earlier this year. The long running battle between the companies started in 2010 when VirnetX sued Apple, accusing the tech giant of using VPN patents owned by VirnetX without licensing them.

Apple allegedly used those patents for its FaceTime video chat feature, iMessage messaging app, and VPN On Demand technology. In 2012, Apple was ordered to pay VirnetX $368 million, and that decision was tossed out two years later. But it was revisited as part of a retrial over damages in 2016. That suit ended with damages in the amount of $625 million being awarded to the patent incubator. That judgment was also thrown out when the judge called the trial unfair, and cited jury confusion. A retrial resulted in VirnetX being awarded $302.4 million, and that figure rose to nearly $440 million after the court found that Apple willfully infringed on the patents. All together, Apple owes the non-practicing entity nearly $1 billion in court-ordered damages.

Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas denied a request made by Apple for a retrial of the most recent court battle. At the same time, Judge Robert Schroeder both granted and denied parts of VirnetX's Motion for Entry of Judgment and for Equitable and Statutory Relief. Still, Apple plans on appealing this decision to a higher court and has already started the process of appealing the nearly $440 million decision against it that dates back to last year.

source: AppleInsider