Apple Fined $500 Mln by U.S. Court

U.S. court in Texas fined Apple on Saturday, $503 million for infringing virtual private network technology patented by software security firm VirnetX.

VirnetX had told the jury it was entitled to more than $700 million. Apple had countered that it owed about $113 million, claiming the royalty rate should be no more than 19 cents per unit. The jury settled on 84 cents per unit, according to Bloomberg's report.

On other hand, Apple previously paid VirnetX $454 million because of a verdict over earlier versions of the features. Moreover, it launched an aggressive campaign to invalidate VirnetX patents, but its victories at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office hadn’t come in time to avoid its losses in district court.

Noteworthy, VirnetX, which hasn’t been able to gain traction with its own Gabriel software, relies on patent royalties for its revenue. Its biggest payment came from a $200 million settlement with Microsoft Corp. in 2010.

Later, PanOptis, which specializes in licensing patents, took Apple to court in February last year, claiming it refused to pay for the use of 4G LTE technologies in its smartphones, tablets and watches.

The plaintiffs have repeatedly negotiated with Apple to reach an agreement for a FRAND license to the Plaintiff's patent portfolios which Apple is infringing, the Tech news reported.