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Apple is currently the most valuable company in the US and with this title comes the risk of being targeted by patent trolls. The iPhone maker is already used to this fact but getting fleeced for $440 million should still hurt. This is exactly what happened recently when the company was ordered by court notorious for siding with patent trolls to pay the amount for supposed patent violations.
The legal kerfuffle involved a technology used for FaceTime, as well as other applications on Apple’s products, which a company called VirnetX claimed patents over. The decision that Apple would need to pay up was actually decided a year ago but it was only now that the amount of how much was revealed, TechCrunch reports.
Apple tried to file motions to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas where the decision was made, but this was denied. With the favorable verdict to VirnetX affirmed, the patent troll announced how much the iPhone maker supposedly owed them and it is a full $140 million more than what was initially decided.
In a comment to TechCrunch, an Apple spokesperson said that the company plans to appeal this judgment. There is also hope for the Cupertino firm that the decision will be reversed in the form of VirnetX’s own patent troubles.
Apparently, both the Patent and Trademark Office and the Patent Trial and Appeal Board have invalidated the firm’s patents related to this case. This invalidation has yet to become legally binding, but once all appeals have been exhausted, Apple could still get out of paying $440 million.
If Apple wins its appeal, VirnetX loses this battle, Engadget notes. What’s more, it will no longer be able to use the patents to sue Apple in the future and the Supreme Court is making moves that might finally cut off patent trolls from choosing judges or courts that tend to favor them.
