FaceTime calls are a vastly popular feature on both iPhone and iPad. Now that it is possible to make video calls on cellular networks, it has gained all the more traction. However, apparently Apple infringed a few patents in creating the feature and now has to cough up some $368 million for doing so.
VirnetX is a software company which holds patents to some of the key technologies that are used by Apple in FaceTime. The case has been going on for a while and Apple has been on thin ice given the fact that VirnetX did indeed procure many proofs to substantiate its claims.
Consequently, the court has now ruled that Apple did indeed infringe on VirnetX’s patents. Specifically, the tech giant infringed on the patent that defines the method of creating a virtual private network (VPN) between different PCs; and another patent which provides a method to resolve DNS security issues.
In the past, other companies such as Microsoft have also been found infringing on VirnetX’s patents, for which they had to cough substantial amounts of money. In the current case, the court has ruled that Apple must pay the company a total of $368 million in damages for having infringed the patents.
The lawyer for VirnetX, Doug Cawley, remarked while commenting on the case, “For years Apple refused to pay fair value for the VirnetX patents. Apple says they don’t infringe. But Apple developers testified that they didn’t pay any attention to anyone’s patents when developing their system.”
VirnetX has a number of other cases lined up against many other tech titans such as Cisco, Siemens and Avaya. And the company may well be in the position to win most of them.
Courtesy: The Register
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