On many occasions we have talked about the large number of patents that Apple files every year. These patents do not mean that they will become part of a device in the short term, but the main reason is to protect themselves against third-party companies that want to make use of this technology without first going through the box.
Samsung, Apple, Microsoft ... all large companies throughout their history have had a problem using patents without having previously checked out. Without going any further, we have the most recent case of Apple against the Swedish firm Ericsson, in which Apple was ordered to pay a percentage of the sales of all iPhones sold so far for the use of the 2G, 3G and 4G / LTE patents held by Ericsson.
Apple is once again in the crosshairs of justice, this time it is the VirnetX company that is suing the Cupertino-based boys a total of 532 million dollars for the use of patents without the corresponding payment. The company sure that Apple has used patents related to security in communications in private networks in both FaceTime and iMessage without your consent
In 2012, VirnetX won another lawsuit against Apple in which Apple was accused of using four patents without their consent on the technology used in FaceTime, condemning to pay the company 368 million dollars. But ultimately this ruling was dismissed on appeal and a new trial was ordered. On this occasion VirnetX affirms that the current generation of Apple products continues to use the same technology, so the amount of the new demand rises to 532 million dollars.
VirnetX has not been able to commercialize its products in the market so the income it makes today is due to the patents used by companies. In 2010 the company managed to get 200 million from Microsoft and later in 2014, it returned to obtain 23 million from the guys based in Redmond.