Court Orders Apple to Pay $368 Million to Patent Holding Firm VirnetX

The Texas jury in a patent lawsuit brought by VirnetX has ruled that Apple must pay $368 million to the patent holding firm. VirnetX had asked the court for $900 million.

The Register’s Brid-Aine Parnell explained, “The jury, which had sat through the five-day trial, ruled that Apple infringed two patents: one for a method of creating a virtual private network (VPN) between computers, and another for solving DNS security issues. The focus of the trial was on FaceTime, which lets users of Mac computers, iPhones, iPods and iPads chat to each other in video calls.”

Bloomberg’s Susan Decker quoted Apple attorney Danny Williams. “Apple does not owe money to VirnetX,” Williams told the court. “VirnetX is not entitled to money for things they did not invent. The VirnetX technology, if used, is a small part of very large, complex products.”

According to SlashGear’s Chris Davies, VirnetX lawyer Doug Cawley countered, “For years Apple refused to pay fair value for the VirnetX patents.”

All Things D’s Ina Fried noted, “VirnetX also has filed complaints with the U.S. International Trade Commission against Apple, alleging that its iPhone, iPad and Mac products violate the company’s patents. In addition, the company has cases pending against Cisco, Avaya and Siemens, with those cases set for trial in March 2013.”