Apple loses patent cases to VirnetX again -- will have to pay $302.4 million

"Third time's the charm", VirnetX is probably now thinking, as a US court has, for the third time, ruled that Apple has infringed the company’s patents. A federal judge in Tyler, Texas ruled on Sunday that Apple must pay $302.4 million (£235.10m) for infringing VirnetX’s patents in services like FaceTime and iMessage.

Back in 2010, VirnetX was awarded $368.2 (£286.25m), but the ruling was partially overturned because it wasn’t exactly clear how the jury calculated the damages. The second time, earlier this year, the court ruled Apple should pay, setting the figure at $625.6 million (£486.37), but that ruling too was voided because the "repeated references to the earlier case could have confused jurors and were unfair to Apple".

The report also says there will be an additional hearing to see if Apple infringed these patents on purpose. Depending on what the company says, the fine could be changed, again.

VirnetX is called a patent troll, and Apple is not the only company to be gunned down. Microsoft paid $200 million, back in 2010, to obtain a license for two patents related to internet communications. VirnetX is a company that makes most of its money by licensing patented technology that creates VPNs over the internet.

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