Success and disputes have always come hand in hand for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Earlier it was Samsung that alleged it for violating patent rights and now VirnetX, a technology and internet security service provider, has accused it for going against the patent law. To everyone’s surprise, the federal jury has asked word’s second most valuable company to pay $625.6 million to VirnetX.
Announcing the result of the case VirnetX Inc., et al. v. Apple Inc., No. 6:12-cv-0085, the jury concluded that Apple had infringed four of VirnetX’s patents. It’s the second time when the court has ordered Apple to pay a fine to VirnetX for violating patent laws.
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The jury in federal court found that Apple had willfully used the technology developed by VirnetX in its VPN On-Demand, FaceTime and iMessage services. The federal jury said that Apple continued to use VirnetX’s patent technology even when it knew the after-effects, which was unacceptable. The current verdict includes the royalty given to VirnetX in a previous case against Apple.
On one hand Apple’s planning to file a plea in the court against this order, while the VirnetX senior management team is delighted to win a verdict yet again. According to Kendall Larsen, President & CEO, VirnetX, team-members are pleased with the decision. VirnetX proved in the past that Apple had willfully used its technology without its consent, and it has done it again.
As the verdict result came out, VirnetX rose 47%, a milestone that otherwise looked impossible to touch for the software service provider. Although the court ordered in the favor VirnetX, Apple filed a plea claiming that VirnetX lawyers had made improper arguments to confuse the jury. The final hearing on Apple’s appeal is yet to take place, which has raised the question whether Apple will be able to do away with these patent violation allegations or end up paying a penalty second time in a row.
