Apple loses bid for new trial in VirnetX case, appeal still possible
A federal judge on Thursday denied Apple's motion for a new trial in a long-running patent case leveled by non-practicing entity VirnetX, a suit that left the iPhone maker on the hook for $502.6 million.
In a final judgment handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Judge Robert Schroeder entered an order denying an Apple motion for a new trial on certain merits of VirnetX's case. The jurist also denied-in-part and granted-in-part a VirnetX Motion for Entry of Judgment and for Equitable and Statutory Relief.
Details of both parties' motions are unknown as related dockets are currently sealed. With a final judgment entered, however, Judge Schroeder has closed the case.
Apple in April was found by a jury to have infringed on four VirnetX patents with its secure communications products. VirnetX sued Apple in 2012 over the company's VPN on Demand technology and consumer-facing FaceTime and iMessage software and services, initially seeking damages on cumulative product sales involving iPhone 5, the fourth-generation iPad, Macs running OS X Mountain Lion and other supporting devices.
The jury in that case awarded VirnetX $502.6 million in damages, adding to an earlier win that brings the amount Apple owes the NPE to nearly $1 billion.
VirnetX first filed suit against Apple in 2010. The patent holder has seen a handful of wins, but also losses on appeal. In 2012, the same Texas court ordered Apple to pay $368 million for infringing on a single patent, a judgment vacated by the CAFC nearly two years later. That case was rolled in with the original suit as part of a damages retrial in 2016 that slapped Apple with a $625 million penalty.
Judge Schroeder later tossed the huge award, saying jury confusion led to an unfair trial. A pair of retrials followed, ending in a $302.4 million victory for VirnetX that was enhanced to $439.7 million after Apple was found to have willfully infringed on the patents. Apple is appealing that decision and is likely to appeal the current case to a higher court.
In a final judgment handed down in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Judge Robert Schroeder entered an order denying an Apple motion for a new trial on certain merits of VirnetX's case. The jurist also denied-in-part and granted-in-part a VirnetX Motion for Entry of Judgment and for Equitable and Statutory Relief.
Details of both parties' motions are unknown as related dockets are currently sealed. With a final judgment entered, however, Judge Schroeder has closed the case.
Apple in April was found by a jury to have infringed on four VirnetX patents with its secure communications products. VirnetX sued Apple in 2012 over the company's VPN on Demand technology and consumer-facing FaceTime and iMessage software and services, initially seeking damages on cumulative product sales involving iPhone 5, the fourth-generation iPad, Macs running OS X Mountain Lion and other supporting devices.
The jury in that case awarded VirnetX $502.6 million in damages, adding to an earlier win that brings the amount Apple owes the NPE to nearly $1 billion.
VirnetX first filed suit against Apple in 2010. The patent holder has seen a handful of wins, but also losses on appeal. In 2012, the same Texas court ordered Apple to pay $368 million for infringing on a single patent, a judgment vacated by the CAFC nearly two years later. That case was rolled in with the original suit as part of a damages retrial in 2016 that slapped Apple with a $625 million penalty.
Judge Schroeder later tossed the huge award, saying jury confusion led to an unfair trial. A pair of retrials followed, ending in a $302.4 million victory for VirnetX that was enhanced to $439.7 million after Apple was found to have willfully infringed on the patents. Apple is appealing that decision and is likely to appeal the current case to a higher court.
Comments
So when this actually goes to a real court - the final appeal will either be a very large reduction in damages, no finding of infringement or the patents will be struck down entirely.
Why hasn't the USA done anything about the fact that East Texas courts are continuously finding in opposition to everywhere else in the country. It's an embarrassment.
On an unrelated note, why in the sweet f—-all does iOS automatically capitalize the word news? (See above) That infuriates me.
I mean Google & Java/Oracle (née Sun)...
It's already been reported on numerous occasions that Apple doesn't respond to infringement claims from most inventors until it becomes a legal case, and I would think that it's probably a very common policy for other large companies. If the IP owner has deep enough pockets to take Apple on and feel they have a good case then they lawyer-up, but otherwise they get ignored. Small companies/individuals have little chance of winning patent cases against big powerful techs like Google or Apple or Microsoft.