Apple Loses FaceTime Patent Lawsuit, Must Pay $368 Million

Hot off the heels of its Samsung patent lawsuit loss in the UK, Apple on Wednesday morning was ordered to pay $368 million to patent firm VirnetX. A U.S. court in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that Apple FaceTime technology has infringed on four patents held by VirnetX.

The patents in question are listed as  6,502,135,  7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151.

Apple will likely appeal the decision although both firms are remaining silent in regards to the courts decision.

Following his company’s victory VirnetX CEO and President Kendall Larsen, released the following statement:

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of our suit with Apple. This victory further establishes the importance of our patent portfolio.”

VirnetX had previously secured a $200 million patent win over Microsoft. The company had hoped to secure approximately the same amount of money from Apple, starting its patent lawsuit with a request approximately half the size of its eventually reward.

VirnetX has used its 20 U.S. patents and 26 international patents to sue various tech firms including Cisco, Avaya and Siemens.

Apple has recently lost a patent licensing lawsuit against Motorola Mobility, a Samsung multitouch patent case in a Dutch court and various other fights around the world.

The recent losses by Apple may signal a shift in ideologies for many patent judges. Even after awarding Apple $1.1 billion in its victory over Samsung, U.S. Judge Lucy Koh noted that while Apple deserved to be compensated, it’s use of patent lawsuits in such a manner appeared to violate the nature of innovation.

Apple is currently engaged in various patent lawsuits with many of its main competitors. However, recent troubles with its iOS 6 platform and iPhone 5 devices may make it harder for Apple to claim that company’s are ripping off its smartphones to gain a stronger following.

Steve Jobs before his death said Apple needed to sink Google Android by going “thermonuclear” on Google. With patent trolls all over the world coming out of the woodwork to sue Apple it looks like Jobs’ own words are coming back to bite the company.