After determining that Apple was infringing on VirnetX’s patents through their iMessage, FaceTime and other software applications, an East Texas District Court ruled that Apple must pay $626 million in damages. According the the jury, Apple had violated 4 of VirnetX’s patents, which mainly involve communication over electronic devices. VirnetX is well known the tech community as an infamous patent troll; a company that procures a large amount of patents and then aims to fault other companies by accusing them of infringement.
Supposedly, Apple had violated the four of the following patents out of the 80 owned by VirnetX:
U.S. Patent #6,502,135 (“135 patent”): Agile network protocol for secure communications with assured system availability
U.S. Patent #7,418,504 (“504 patent”): Agile network protocol for secure communications using secure domain names
U.S. Patent #7,490,151 (“151 patent”): Establishment of a secure communication link based on a domain name service (DNS) request
U.S. Patent #7,921,211 (“211 patent”): Agile network protocol for secure communications using secure domain names
Despite being a company of 14 employees working out of an office with a $5000 rent space per month, VirnetX has claimed a huge victory. VirtnetX makes most of their incomes through this process of licensing and suing other firms based on patent ownership rights.
This case had been going on since 2012; Apple managed to drag it out until now, however VirnetX was persistent enough to see this huge case all the way through. Ultimately, VirnetX succeeded in convincing the jury to see to it that Apple repaid VirnetX for all the damage done to them.
Dear Daniel, Thanks for your blogpost! I liked that fact that you researched the patents that were violated and provided the patent numbers in your post. I also noted in my blogpost how it's incredible that a company with only 14 employees is making so much money without selling an actual product or service. Something that I found interesting was that your last paragraph seemed to be slightly inclined in the favor of VirnetX while other bloggers were against the company. Thanks for your perspective and all the information! Looking forward to reading more from you :)
ReplyDeleteDaniel,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the level of detail in your blogpost. In particular, i liked that you included the actual patent numbers and the names of the patents that VirnetX claims were violated. I also find it interesting that you included the fact that VirnetX has only 14 employees and very low operating costs. It is crazy to think that such a small operation could potentially have more than $600 million coming their way.