US court denies Apple's plea to reduce patent infringement damages against VirnetX

A US district court has upheld a previous patent infringement ruling against Apple Inc and declined its plea to reduce the $368 million damages awarded to internet security software company VirnetX Holding Corp.

The Court further denied Apple's request for a new trial on the liability and damages parts of the verdict.

In November 2012, Apple was order to pay $368 million in damages for willfully infringing VirnetX its patent on virtual-private-network technology that was used in Apple's FaceTime video-calling function.

The US district court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, yesterday ordered Apple to pay $33,561 in daily interest and $330,201 in daily damages for infringement up to the final judgment, VirnetX said in a statement.

The court, however, denied VirnetX's request for a permanent injunction and ordered both the companies to mediate over a licence in the next 45 days for Apple's future infringing use not covered by the court order.

Following the November order, VirnetX had filed another motion in the same court alleging that Apple's iPhone 5, iPod Touch 5th Generation, iPad 4th Generation, iPad mini, and the latest Macintosh computers also infringed four of its patents.