A patent licensing firm, VirnetX, was awarded $625 million after a jury ruled in its favor, finding that world giant Apple has wilfully infringed on four of VirnetX's patents. But this is not the end stop. The company is going to ban iMessage and Facetime, two of Apple's most popular communications services, claiming that its patents are being infringed and that this has caused VirnetX "irreparable harm."
The company now wants further damages and holds the view that Apple should be barred from using its patented technologies to power Facetime and iMessages, services which are used by hundreds of millions of people across the globe.
Apple isn't going to take all of this lying down. It's contesting the claims, requesting the court to disregard the previous verdict as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated VirnetX's claim to these inventions. It merits mentioning here that this action by the USPTO is already being challenged in a separate case before the Supreme Court.
Apple argues that its customers will be impacted if it's told to pull the plug on iMessage and Facetime. VirnetX is claiming that a ban is necessary as its own video app called Gabriel Collaboration Suite is suffering as a result of Apple's actions.
The Cupertino company has not yet issued a statement on this matter.
Filed in Apple. Read more about facetime, imessage and patents.
