© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Apple Inc. logo is seen hanging at the entrance of the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, U.S., October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo
By Blake Brittany
(Reuters) – Apple Inc (NASDAQ:) convinced a U.S. appeals court on Friday to throw out a $502 million verdict for patent licensing company VirnetX Inc in a long-running fight over privacy technology In Internet.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the verdict could not stand after the US Patent Trial and Appeals Board canceled the virtual private network (VPN) patents that VirnetX held against Apple to infringe.
The ruling follows Thursday’s Federal Circuit decision upholding a court decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office that the patents were invalid.
Apple and VirnetX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The two companies have waged a 13-year court battle over VirnetX’s patents that has included several trials and appeals. An East Texas jury awarded VirnetX $502 million in 2020 after finding that Apple infringed the patents at issue in the Federal Circuit cases.
VirnetX separately won a $302 million verdict against Apple in East Texas in 2016, later increased to $440 million, over related allegations that the tech giant used its Internet security technology in features like FaceTime video calls. .
