Apple was dealt a setback late last week, as it prepares to defend itself from another FaceTime patent lawsuit by “patent holding firm” VirnetX. The presiding judge issued a series of pre-trial rulings denying Apple’s motions to preemptively invalidate some of VirnetX’s patent claims. Apple will also not be allowed to use invalidity as a defense against other claims.
Apple had argued that a number of the claims being used against it were not specific enough to warrant patent protection, and thus should be invalidated under the “indefiniteness” standard. Among the disputed terms were “secure name service,” “secure name,” and “unsecured name.”
U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis Apple’s arguments, and also denied the company’s motion to strike the terms as indefinite. Davis also ruled that Apple may not question the validity of any of the patents claims that were used in the last court battle with VirnetX, which resulted in a $368 million judgement for VirnetX. Apple can however, use that defense against newly asserted claims.
“We are extremely pleased with the court’s rulings and we remain confident in the merits of our complaint against Apple,” VirnetX CEO Kendall Larsen said in a release. “We believe the court’s Markman Order and motion ruling represents another significant step towards the successful resolution of this litigation.”
VirnetX originally sued Apple in 2011, charging the Cupertino firm had violated their patents in the creation of FaceTime. Apple modified FaceTime following VirnetX’s victory to avoid the infringements. However, VirnetX says the changes were insufficient.
