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Apple has been battling VirnetX in courtroom for over a decade over patents, and on Thursday, the US Court docket of Appeals handed Apple a victory within the newest skirmish.
In 2010, VirnetX launched a authorized dispute by alleging quite a few situations of patent infringement associated to FaceTime, VPN, and iMessage companies. A Texas courtroom fined Apple $368 million in 2012 for violating one patent, however the ruling was overturned nearly two years later.
In the newest replace, Apple satisfied the US Court docket of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to invalidate the 2 patents by upholding a choice from the USPTO’s Patent Trial and Attraction Board, according to Reuters.
It would overturn the $502 million superb that Apple was ordered to pay in 2020. The corporate individually appealed that verdict, however the Federal Circuit nonetheless has to rule in that case.
“If the courtroom upholds the [USPTO’s] resolution, now we have a giant downside,” VirnetX lawyer Jeff Lamken of MoloLamken stated on the September listening to. “I do not assume now we have an enforceable judgment.”
The case has gone by way of quite a few appeals and rulings. With the Federal Circuit’s resolution on Thursday, Apple and VirnetX await a remaining resolution in Apple’s attraction of the preliminary verdict out of East Texas.
VirnetX had individually gained a $302 million verdict in opposition to Apple in 2016, which was elevated to $440 million afterward.