After more than a decade, the patent dispute between Virnet X and Apple could be nearing its conclusion: A US court has now denied Apple’s motion for a new trial and has confirmed the latest jury verdict that Apple is another payment of license fees in Amount of over 500 million US dollars (VirnetX vs. Apple, US District Court, Eastern District of Texas, reference number 6: 12 – cv – 00855).

Overall, the legal dispute with the holding company is expected to cost the iPhone group more than 1.1 billion US dollars, like Apple writes in court records. In March 2020 the group already 454 Millions of US dollars transferred to Virnet X after losing a previous trial, the US Supreme Court refused to take the case. Even now the way to the Supreme Court should still be open to Apple, but for the time being it remains unclear whether this will be taken.

Apple with objections In his judgment published at the end of last week, the judge stipulated the license fees previously demanded by the jury in the amount of 84 cents per device – also for possible future patent infringements by Apple, as reported by the news agency Reuters . Apple had previously argued in the proceedings that a maximum of 12 cents per device was appropriate.

The amount to be paid is also based on the number of devices sold, which – in view of the many millions of devices sold – is much higher than the actual value of the invention. According to Apple, the plaintiff’s patents have nothing to do with the “core functions” of iPhone & Co and have already been partially declared invalid.

East Texas as a litigation paradise for patent owners The dispute is about patents relating to secure communication technologies and “VPN on Demand” functions. VirnetX claims to have originally developed the techniques for the US foreign intelligence service CIA and considers them to have been infringed by Apple’s communication services iMessage and FaceTime. Apple had technically reorganized FaceTime several years ago, apparently also to circumvent VirnetX’s patent claims.

The federal court for East Texas is considered particularly patent-friendly. Patent holders are therefore happy to file their complaints there. In order to no longer be sued in this court, Apple 00855 has given up two stores in Texas. (lbe)