VirnetX Files Second Patent Lawsuit Against Apple After Winning $368 Million
VirnetX and Apple are heading back to patent court for a second time. Following the company’s $368 million patent-infringement judgement against iPad, iPhones, and Mac computers, VirnetX has filed a fresh filing.
The new lawsuit specifically targets the iPhone 5, fifth-generation iPod Touch, fourth-generation iPad, iPad Mini, and latest Mac computers.
In a statement regarding the new filing, VirnetX wrote:
“Due to their release dates, these products were not included in the previous lawsuit that concluded with a Jury verdict on November 6, 2012.”
The patents in the filing include Nos. 6,502,135, 7,490,151, 7,418,504, and 7,921,211.
VirnetX isn’t exactly going after Apple for new technologies; one of the patents is more than 10 years old. The older patent describes:
“[An] Agile network protocol for secure communications with assured system availability.”
Another patent offers the:
“Establishment of a secure communication link based on a domain name service (DNS) request.”
The final two patents are titled “Agile network protocol for secure communications using secure domain names.”
In its original lawsuit and in the current filing, VirnetX claims that its technologies are required to power FaceTime, iMessage, and Apple’s VPN On Demand implementation. The lawsuits have both targeted Apple iOS and Apple Mountain Lion OS.
VirnetX has requested a jury trial, and the company wants Apple to pay three times damages because of its “willful infringement.”
Apple plans to appeal the first court cases decision, and it will defend itself against this most recent attack.
Apple, Inc. is coming under increased attack from competing firms, likely a product of the company’s own patent attack strategy.
