A jury on Friday ruled that Apple owes VirnetX another $502.8 million for patent infringement in an ongoing 10 years-long legal battle. The dispute, which started in 2010, began when VirnetX accused Apple of infringing its patents in the Cupertino firm’s FaceTime feature on iOS and macOS.
Bloomberg reports that the jury in the case was asked to determine the royalties Apple owes VirnetX for the VPN on Deman feature that allows iPhone users to access virtual private networks.
VirnetX has demanded that Apple cough up $700 million, while Apple claimed it was on the hook for only $113 million, based on a royalty rate of 19 cents per unit. The jury decided on 84 cents per unit in total.
There are actually two separate lawsuits in the ongoing VirnetX vs. Apple legal batter, covering both older and newer Apple devices. Earlier this year, Apple was required to pay $454 million to VirnetX. Friday’s second award will be in addition to that first payment. VirnetX had originally been awarded $502 million, but that ruling was partially overturned in 2019 and was sent back to the lower courts to have new damages determined.
