Apple ordered to pay VirnetX $502.8 million in royalties for VPN-on-Demand

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Apple Inc. (NASDAQ; AAPL) suffered another major blow in its decade-long patent infringement battle against VirnetX Holding Corporation (NYSE: VHC), an internet security software company.

This time, the Cupertino-based tech giant is ordered to cough up over half a billion dollars for violating the internet security software company’s patents for secure communications, which were integrated into iPhones, iPads, iPods, and Mac computers.

A jury in Tyler, Texas ordered Apple to pay VirtneX $502.8 million in royalties for VPN-on-Demand, a feature that allows users to automatically connect to a virtual private network (VPN). It took approximately 90 minutes for the jury to reach the decision on Friday, according to Bloomberg.

In February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas that Apple is precluded from challenging the validity of VirnetX’s asserted patents. The appeals court noted that the tech giant failed to litigate the case and was prohibited from repeating those challenges.