Nothing is going right at this moment for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). A couple of days ago, it had to lose its leading market position to Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and now a court has ordered it to pay a whopping sum of $625 million to VirnetX for allegedly using its security tech.
Insights of The Matter
It’s not the first time when Apple has been hit hard by other companies, especially VirnetX for violating patent laws. Earlier, VirnetX had sued the smartphone maker in 2010 for using its VPN technology in FaceTime video chats and managed to receive a significant payment to settle that matter. Now, once again it has proved its point in the court, claiming that Apple used its security tech in iMessage and FaceTime. Although VirnetX wanted $532 million from Apple, the court ordered the smartphone maker to pay $625 million.
The court decision has come as an enormous windfall for VirnetX, which has a little business outside of this patent troll practice.
Talking about this court order, Apple spokesperson said that the smartphone maker would appeal against this decision. In its defense, Apple said that the four patents that VirnetX has used against it, have already been declared invalid by the authorities, which make the entire case baseless. Moreover, Apple worked hard for years to develop this technology, which VirnetX claimed to own.
Road Ahead
The charge of $625 million is something Apple is least bothered about as it has over $216 billion in its bank account (as of Q4). However, it wants to appeal to ensure that other tech companies don’t follow this practice to sue it and get money in return. Apple wishes to write off this temptation of filing lawsuit forever. As of now, it’s preparing to appeal in the court against this order. Further details will be made available in the near future.
