Company:VirnetX
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| NYSE: VHC Russell 2000 Component | |
| Headquarters | 308 Dorla Court, Suite 206 Zephyr Cove, Nevada |
Key people | Kendall Larsen (CEO) |
Number of employees | 20 |
| Subsidiaries | National Research Corporation - Japan, Ltd. VirnetX Inc. |
VirnetX (NYSE: VHC) is a publicly traded Internet security software and technology company based in Zephyr Cove, Nevada.[1]
VirnetX has been described as a patent troll, whose primary business model is patent licensing and suing infringing companies.[2] The company has won intellectual property litigation against various technology companies.[3][4] Kendall Larsen is the company's CEO.[5]
Products
VirnetX has developed a range of software and technology solutions including VirnetX One, War Room, VirnetX Matrix and Gabriel Connection Technology.[6][7][8][9]
Patents and litigation
Dr. Robert Dunham Short, Chief Scientist/Director, and Dr. Victor Larson, Chief Technology Officer at VirnetX, co-invented a protocol in 1998[10] that encrypts real-time audio and video transmissions, which was then sought by Apple for their FaceTime app.[11]
The company's patent portfolio includes U.S. and international patents in areas such as DNS and network communication. Since 2010, VirnetX has been in litigation with companies including Apple, Cisco, and Microsoft.[12] Separately, in December 2014, Microsoft and VirnetX settled patent disputes over Skype technology for $23 million.[13] In their Apple case, VirnetX worked together with SAIC,[14] and was awarded $368 million in damages for FaceTime infringement.[15] That ruling was partially vacated in August 2014, but two patents were confirmed to be infringed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.[16]
In December 2014, VirnetX opened access to their Gabriel platform, which builds upon their patents, and is implemented as small to medium-sized business enterprise collaboration software.[17] Apple has appealed rulings against it in state and federal courts and demanded a jury trial for the VirtnetX case. In February 2016 an East Texas jury unanimously ruled in federal court that Apple had willfully violated 13 VirnetX patents. The jury said Apple must pay VirnetX $625.6 million for infringing four of the patents, and the court was considering ongoing royalty rates and punitive damages.[18] At Apple's request, the ruling was vacated in August 2016 and the case sent back to be retried separating the patents into two groups. VirnetX has filed an injunction to block sales of Facetime and iMessage, claiming that its own platforms are suffering.
The first retrial, conducted from September 26 to September 30, 2016, resulted in another unanimous jury verdict for VirnetX.[19] The verdict re-affirmed patent violations enabling Facetime and iMessage and awarded $439.7 million to VirnetX. The remaining two patents will be tried separately.
In 2018, Apple was ordered to pay $502.6 million to VirnetX, but that order was vacated in 2019. Apple was still found by the jury to be infringing two patents, but attempted to appeal this judgement.[20] In February 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court did not consider an appeal made by Apple.[21] Apple's request for a new trial was overturned in January 2021.[22]
In March 2021, the patent and trial appeal board ruled that two of VirnetX's patents were invalid in its dispute with Apple.[23]
On March 31, 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned a $502 million verdict in favor of patent licensing company VirnetX against Apple in a dispute over VPN patents, following the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board's cancellation of the patents that VirnetX had accused Apple of infringing.[24][25]
References
- ↑ "VirnetX - Nevada Secretary of State". https://www.nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpDetails.aspx?lx8nvq=PFee9RuTsb45A2JdzMaW9w%253d%253d&nt7=0.
- ↑
- Peters, Jay (2020-02-10). "Apple’s epic patent troll fight drags on as appeals court strikes down latest request" (in en-US). https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/10/21131945/apple-virnetx-patent-case-us-appeals-court-lawsuit-legal.
- "How VirnetX beat Apple: The strange case of the patent trolls". February 17, 2016. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/how-virnetx-beat-apple-the-strange-case-of-the-patent-trolls-a6880036.html.
- "VirnetX Doesn't Like Being Called a Patent Troll". April 8, 2016. https://www.patentprogress.org/2016/04/08/virnetx-patent-troll/.
- Decker, Susan; Robertson, Dennis (2016-01-25). "VirnetX Tells Jury Apple Should Pay $532 Million Over Patents" (in en). Bloomberg.com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-25/virnetx-tells-jury-apple-should-pay-532-million-over-patents.
- "Apple sanctionné pour avoir violé des brevets sur la 4G" (in fr). 12 August 2020. https://www.capital.fr/entreprises-marches/apple-sanctionne-pour-avoir-viole-des-brevets-sur-la-4g-1377719.
- ↑ Foley, Mary Jo. "Microsoft pays VirnetX $200 million to settle patent case". https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-pays-virnetx-200-million-to-settle-patent-case/.
- ↑ "Apple Rebuffed by Supreme Court in $1 Billion VirnetX Dispute". https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-24/apple-rebuffed-by-high-court-in-1-billion-dispute-with-virnetx.
- ↑ Stempel, Jonathan (2014-09-16). "U.S. court throws out VirnetX $368 million patent award vs Apple" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-virnetx-idUSKBN0HB20D20140916.
- ↑ "VHC.N - | Stock Price & Latest News | Reuters". https://www.reuters.com/markets/companies/VHC.N/profile.
- ↑ "Check out VirnetX Holding Corp's stock price (VHC) in real time" (in en). https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/VHC.
- ↑ Christian, Bruce (2023-05-15). "VirnetX Collaborates with Samsung" (in en-US). https://rwsmagazine.com/virnetx-collaborates-with-samsung/.
- ↑ "VHC Taking Samsung Displays Into War Rooms" (in en-US). 2023-08-22. https://displaydaily.com/vhc-taking-samsung-displays-into-war-rooms/.
- ↑ , Edward Colby; Robert Dunham Short III & Victor Larson et al."Establishment of a secure communication link based on a domain name service (DNS) request" patent US7490151B2, issued 2009-02-10
- ↑ "Apple is Afraid of Inventors, Not Patent Trolls" (in en). 2019-03-21. https://ipwatchdog.com/2019/03/21/apple-afraid-inventors-not-patent-trolls/id=107575/.
- ↑ "Company Interview: Kendall Larsen, VirnetX Holding Corporation". April 22, 2008. https://www.virnetx.com/company-interview-kendall-larsen-virnetx-holding-corporation/.
- ↑ Armental, Richard. "VirnetX, Microsoft Settle Patent Dispute Over Skype". wsj. https://www.wsj.com/articles/virnetx-microsoft-settle-patent-dispute-over-skype-1419018552?mod=yahoo_hs.
- ↑ Smith, Gina. "Who is VirnetX? Apple To Pay $368 Million to IBM? NSA? CIA? Who?". A New Domain. http://anewdomain.net/2012/11/06/who-is-virnetx-apple-must-pay-300m-plus-breaking/.
- ↑ Bell, Killian. "U.S. Court Orders Apple To Pay $439.7 Million Damages For FaceTime Patent Infringement". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2012/11/07/u-s-court-orders-apple-to-pay-368-million-damages-for-facetime-patent-infringement/.
- ↑ "United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit: Virnetx, Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc.". http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/13-1489.Opinion.9-12-2014.1.PDF.
- ↑ "VirnetX Opens Gabriel Beta Program". VirnetX. http://virnetx.com/virnetx-opens-gabriel-beta-program/.
- ↑ Joe Mullin, Jury: Apple must pay $626 million to patent troll VirnetX, Ars Technica, February 4, 2016
- ↑ Andrew Liptak, [1], The Verge, October 1, 2016
- ↑ Lyons, Kim (2020-10-31). "Apple ordered to pay VirnetX $502.8 million in patent trial" (in en). https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/31/21543315/apple-ordered-pay-virnetx-patent-troll-facetime-vpn.
- ↑ "Supreme Court rejects appeal in Apple's $1-billion dispute over FaceTime patents" (in en-US). 2020-02-24. https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-02-24/apple-rebuffed-supreme-court-billion-facetime-patent.
- ↑ "Apple fails to overturn VirnetX patent verdict, could owe over $1.1 billion" (in en). Reuters. 2021-01-15. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-virnetx-idUSKBN29K2DU.
- ↑ "VirnetX Falls as Appeals Court Denies Bid to Nix Patent Ruling" (in en). https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/virnetx-falls-as-appeals-court-denies-bid-to-nix-patent-ruling.
- ↑ Brittain, Blake (2023-03-30). "Apple wins U.S. appeal over patents in $502 mln VirnetX verdict" (in en). Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/legal/apple-wins-us-appeal-over-patents-502-mln-virnetx-verdict-2023-03-30/.
- ↑ Dobberstein, Laura. "Decade-old patent lawsuit goes Apple's way" (in en). https://www.theregister.com/2023/03/31/apple_virtnetx_suit/.
External links
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