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Apple Loses Patent Retrial To VirnetX, Owes $302.4 Million (reuters.com)
Slashdot reader chasm22 quotes Reuters:
A federal jury in Texas on Friday night ordered Apple Inc to pay more than $302 million in damages for using VirnetX Holding Corp's patented internet security technology without permission in features including its FaceTime video conferencing application. The verdict came in a new trial in Tyler, Texas that had been ordered by the judge in the case, Robert Schroeder, who last August threw out VirnetX's $625.6 million win over Apple from a previous trial because he said jurors in that case may have been confused...
A jury in 2012 awarded $368.2 million in damages, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., partly overturned that verdict, saying there were problems with how the trial judge instructed jurors on calculating damages. On remand, VirnetX's two suits were combined, and in February, a jury returned with an even bigger verdict, $625.6 million, one of the highest ever in a U.S. patent case... However, Schroeder later voided the result, saying that the repeated references to the earlier case could have confused jurors and were unfair to Apple... Apple will also have to contend with the trial in a second lawsuit VirnetX filed against Apple over newer versions of Apple security features, as well as its iMessage application.
The article points out that "Many patent cases are handled in the Texas court, which has a reputation for awarding favorable verdicts to plaintiffs alleging infringement."
A jury in 2012 awarded $368.2 million in damages, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., partly overturned that verdict, saying there were problems with how the trial judge instructed jurors on calculating damages. On remand, VirnetX's two suits were combined, and in February, a jury returned with an even bigger verdict, $625.6 million, one of the highest ever in a U.S. patent case... However, Schroeder later voided the result, saying that the repeated references to the earlier case could have confused jurors and were unfair to Apple... Apple will also have to contend with the trial in a second lawsuit VirnetX filed against Apple over newer versions of Apple security features, as well as its iMessage application.
The article points out that "Many patent cases are handled in the Texas court, which has a reputation for awarding favorable verdicts to plaintiffs alleging infringement."
From what is there, this looks like a pretty reasonable verdict. Apple infringed on four patents held by the plaintiff and got their heads handed to them.
May very well be one of those cases where the patent system works correctly. Given Apples past bad actions it's a shame the original verdict wasn't upheld
I am not a big Apple supporter and I think our patent system is corrupt and totally broken.
But this smells, isn't this being adjudicated in the Eastern District of Texas the center of all that screams PATENT TROLL!
VirtnetX pretty much sues everyone. They are patent trolls. They lost against Cisco, which means we can sill use VPNs.
Apple will undoubtedly appeal, and cite Alice Corp vs CLS Bank, which has about a 78% win track record for the defendant, when cited as part of a patent case. Either way: the next level of appeal takes it out of East Texas, also known as "Patent Troll Heaven".