Apple won’t get a rehearing in its ongoing patent battle with VirnetX to argue that the patents it is accused of infringing are invalid.
Bloomberg reports the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday rejected the Cupertino company’s request to reconsider a November ruling that confirmed it infringed on two VirnetX patents. The patent dispute goes back to 2010 when VirnetX alleged Apple’s FaceTime feature infringed on its intellectual property. Multiple lawsuits have sprung from the case.
In this particular case, VirnetX was awarded $502.6 million in April 2018, when a court ruled Apple’s FaceTime, iMessage, and VPN on Demand features infringed on four VirnetX patents.
However, that ruling was vacated by an appeals court and sent back to a lower court for reconsideration in November 2019, to determine whether revised damages could be calculated or if there would be a new damages trial. The ruling there was eventually in favor of VirnetX.
Now that Apple’s request for a rehearing on patent validity has been denied, Apple and VirnetX will await details on the new damages Apple will be required to pay.