Apple must pay VirnetX $440 million after an appeals court upheld an earlier judgement in favor of the patent holding company, reports Reuters.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today denied Apple’s appeal of a 2016 verdict that awarded VirnetX $302 million, which increased to $439.7 million when taking into account damages and interest calculated during retrials.
VirnetX first sued Apple in 2010, accusing FaceTime of infringing on patents held by the company. The two companies have been fighting in court since then, and Apple in 2017 said it would appeal the final $440 million judgement.
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In a separate case that is also still unsettled, VirnetX was awarded an additional $502.6 million from Apple after a court found that Apple’s FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN on Demand features infringe on four patents related to communications security.
Apple in total owes VirnetX $942 million, but is likely to continue to fight both rulings, as the patents in question have been ruled invalid by a separate court. Apple said it is disappointed with the ruling and will once again appeal.
At present, Apple and Qualcomm’s patent lawsuits are also being carried out globally. The previous situation shows that the Chinese Fuzhou courts and the Munich courts in Germany all agreed to Qualcomm’s request and agreed to stop iPhone sales.
