A U.S. appeals court has upheld a judgement against Apple worth $440 million, reports Reuters. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit denied the iPhone-maker’s request to throw out the 2016 jury verdict, which found it guilty of infringing on patents belonging to VirnetX.
For those who haven’t been tracking the VirnetX story, Apple has been locked in litigation with the Nevada-based company since 2010. The crux of the case involves a secure communications protocol patent, which VirnetX says Apple uses in FaceTime and other apps without proper licensing.
Apple was originally ordered to pay $302.4 million in damages, but that total has ballooned to $440 million over the years due to interest and attorney fees. A spokesperson for the iPhone-maker told Reuters that it was disappointed in today’s ruling, and it of course is planning to appeal.
Source: Reuters