VirnetX Holding Corp. received a positive court ruling Wednesday, as the company disclosed that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has denied Apple’s motion for relief from a judgment in the VirnetX v. Apple patent case.
The case dates back to 2010 when Nevada-based VirnetX filed suit in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas accusing Cupertino, California-based Apple of infringing four patents for secure networks, known as virtual private networks, and secure communications links. VirnetX said Apple infringed with its FaceTime and VPN on Demand features in products such as the iPhone and iPad.
The ruling means Apple cannot recover the roughly $440 million it paid VirnetX in damages for using its internet security technology without permission in features such as FaceTime video calling.
In February, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Apple’s appeal of a 2016 federal court verdict that hit the iPhone maker with a $302 million penalty in the patent infringement case. The amount rose to $439.7 million as the case dragged on. The patents have since been invalidated.
Apple had in the past argued that the verdict and the damages were unfair, saying the amount awarded to VirnetX was well above the actual value of the technology at issue.
MacDailyNews Take: Does the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ever get tired of being a joke?