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Apple could owe $1.1 billion to VirnetX after failing to overturn patent infringement lawsuit

The latest development in the almost decade-long battle between VirnetX and Apple could see the latter have to pay up to $1.1 billion in total damages. That’s the result of US District Judge Robert Schroeder today denying Apple’s request for a new trial along with other requests.

Reported by Reuters, today’s decision by Judge Schroeder may mean the reality of Apple paying a total sum of over $1 billion to VirnetX over infringed VPN patents – something that we reported on as possible back in December.

Back in February 2020, a US Federal Court of Appeals denied Apple a rehearing of the case. Then a month later, Apple paid VirnetX $454M in damages after the Supreme Court denied an appeal on the case.

For a moment, it seemed like the 8 year plus battle was over. However, in October we learned that VirnetX believed another $700 million from Apple was justified with a court making the decision that the number would be another $502 billion in damages on top of the $440M Apple had already paid.

Naturally, Apple fought to overturn that ruling which is what the decision today was over. With Judge Schroeder’s verdict, the final amount Apple will end up paying VirnetX may be over $1.1 billion after interest and further royalties are tallied.

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Avatar for Michael Potuck Michael Potuck

Michael is an editor for 9to5Mac. Since joining in 2016 he has written more than 3,000 articles including breaking news, reviews, and detailed comparisons and tutorials.