Apple loses patent case to VirnetX

Apple has been ordered to pay $368m in damages to VirnetX after a court ruled it hadinfringed on two of the software firm’s patents.

The ruling came after a five-day trial in a Texas court, focusing aroundApple’s FaceTime video calling product.

VirnetX first filed the complaint against Apple in 2010, where it claimed six of its patented technologies had been copied by the company. 

However the jury only ruled that two of its patents had been imitated, which formed parts of its GABRIEL Connection Technology – a solution to enable the secure set up of a virtual private network (VPN).

This is one of many patent cases VirnetX is currently involved in, including similar pending trials with Cisco, Avaya and Siemens, as well as a further suit against Apple that it has filed with the International Trade Commission.

Two years ago, it also won a case against Microsoft where the Redmond giant had to pay out almost $106m for infringing patents related to its communication security software.

Apple refused to comment on the case.