Apple To Pay $300M To VirnetX After Losing Patent Retrial, Could Be More

Apple just lost a retrial against VirnetX in a Texas court and has been ordered to pay the notorious company $302 million. At least this is lower than the $625 million that the tech giant was ordered to pay in a previous trial against VirnetX, which Apple also lost. The trial was over the supposed patent infringement that the iPhone maker committed regarding its use of technology for its Facetime app. VirnetX argued that it owned the patent for the technology and Apple used it without permission.

This victory by VirnetX cast a shadow over the U.S. justice system, according to Tech Crunch. The company is notorious for suing other entities over similar cases, which would not have been unreasonable, except patent lawsuits is their primary source of revenue. In every sense of the word, it appears that Apple just got “patent trolled.”

The court drama has been going on since 2010 and has been one rollercoaster ride after another, with several judges ruling and overturning rulings as to how much Apple needed to pay. By February 2016, the tech giant was ordered by a judge to pay more than $625 million to the notorious litigator after a jury sided with VirnetX. Apple naturally moved to appeal the decision, but it only succeeded in halving how much they needed to pay for damages.

The battle isn’t over yet, however, as Apple could end up paying even more if it’s proven that it willfully committed the patent infringement, Fortune reports. VirnetX is also set to hit the tech giant with even more lawsuits that pertain to some of Apple’s newer technologies.

All of these lawsuits will be filed in the same court in Texas, which is bad news for Apple as the court has a track record of often ruling in favor of plaintiffs.  At this rate, the maker of the iPhone could be looking at hundreds of millions more in payment.