charnsitr-shutterstock-com-apple-logo-
12 December 2016Patents

Federal Circuit affirms PTAB invalidation of VirnetX patents

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed decisions by the US Patent and Trademark Office in three patent disputes between licensing company VirnetX and Apple over network technology.

Decided on Friday, December 9, the court upheld decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) that favoured Apple. VirnetX sought to defend the validity of four of its patents—US numbers 7,188,180; 7,987,274, 8,051,181; and 8,504,697—which were invalidated.

All patents cover technology for establishing secure communication over networks.

The dispute arose after Apple challenged claims of the patents in multiple inter partes review (IPR) proceedings and one inter partes re-examination. The Federal Circuit said in its ruling: “After full review of the record and careful consideration, we find no error in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s claim constructions or findings.”

The Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s decision to invalidate claims of the ‘697 patent, but Judge O’Malley dissented, stating she “would reverse”.

O’Malley stated in the ruling: “Because the board based its factual findings on an inadequate record, I dissent from today’s judgments.”

She added: “Although there is no per se requirement that the board rely on expert testimony to reach a finding of invalidity, this court has long recognised that ‘expert testimony regarding matters beyond the comprehension of laypersons is sometimes essential’, particularly in cases involving complex technology.”

Kendall Larsen, CEO and president of VirnetX, said in a statement: “We are disappointed by and disagree with the Federal Circuit’s decisions affirming the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.”

Larsen added: “However, we are heartened by the strong dissent in one of the appeals. We are evaluating all of our options, including potentially seeking rehearing en banc.”

VirnetX has two pending patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in the US Court for the Eastern District of Texas over Apple’s features including iMessage and FaceTime.

Apple’s victory comes after a loss in a retrial against VirnetX back in September, when it was ordered to pay more than $302 million in damages for patent infringement over internet security technology in its products’ features, including the FaceTime application.

Already registered?

Login to your account

To request a FREE 2-week trial subscription, please signup.
NOTE - this can take up to 48hrs to be approved.

Two Weeks Free Trial

For multi-user price options, or to check if your company has an existing subscription that we can add you to for FREE, please email Adrian Tapping at atapping@newtonmedia.co.uk


More on this story

Patents
17 October 2017   Apple has been ordered to pay more than $439 million to internet security software company VirnetX, after again being found liable for patent infringement relating to its ‘FaceTime’ technology.