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A U.S. District Court has upheld an earlier decision by a federal jury last year to award intellectual property and patent holding firm VirnetX more than $368.2 million, after Apple was found to have infringed patents related to the networking technology used it its FaceTime video chat service.
Meanwhile, as first noted by Seeking Alpha, Apple must award VirnetX more than $330,000 per day until the case is settled, forcing the companies to hammer out agreements between themselves.
VirnetX, known for going after major tech companies on patent infringement claims, believes Apple infringed four networking patents designed to establish a secure connection between two devices.
The “royalty” mediation settlement will require the two firms to thrash out exactly how much Apple should pay for any further use of VirnetX’s patents. Failure to reach an agreement will lead to a new ruling that could result in further damages.
Apple’s iPhone 5, iPad Mini, fourth-generation iPad, fifth-generation iPod Touch, and the latest Mac computers all infringe the patents, according to the original jury.
While Apple’s offering of FaceTime is likely not at risk for the end customer, the terms of the settlement will need to be decided upon by both firms sooner rather than later to prevent any further damages being added to the case.
