Apple Loses Retrial, Ordered to Pay VirnetX $302.4 Million

Apple has been found guilty of infringing VirnetX patents and has been ordered by a federal jury to pay $302.4 million in damages, reports Reuters.

Back in 2010, VirnetX sued Apple for infringing four patents relating secure networks (VPNs) and secure communication links. A Texas jury sided with VirnetX and awarded the company $368.2 million in damages; however, that was partly overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. because there were problems with how the trial judge instructed jurors to calculate damages.


VirnetX's two suits were then combined and in February a jury awarded them an even bigger $625.6 million verdict. However, that decision was then voided by judge Robert Schroeder who said repeated references to the earlier case were unfair to Apple and may have confused jurors.

For this retrial, jurors had to determine damages on two VirnetX patents that Apple had already been found to infringe and to determine infringement and damages on another two patents. Apple has yet to face another proceeding to determine if infringement was wilful.

VirnetX has also filed another lawsuit against Apple over newer security features and alleged infringement with iMessage.

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