The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has today upheld a $440 million judgement against Apple that was awarded to intellectual property licensing firm VirnetX in a patent infringement case by a jury back in 2016, Reuters is reporting.
The judgement, which was originally valued at $302 million and has now grown to $440 million with interest, enhanced damages, and other costs, was re-appealed by Apple in August last year after it was denied a motion for a new trial.
Apple and VirnetX have been having a patent war for the past 9 years. VirnetX, which holds a variety of patents relating to technology used in creating Virtual Private Networks, or VPNs, claims that Apple’s own VPN technology, as well as its FaceTime and iMessage services, all infringe on its patents.
The source notes that today’s decision comes despite VirnetX’s patent claims being ruled invalid by an administrative court. Apple said in a statement that it was “disappointed in the ruling and planned to appeal”.
