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BootsWalking

macrumors 68020
Feb 1, 2014
2,272
14,212
Why was the jury asked to determine a royalty amount? Was the jury made up of people that specialize in licensing, or did they just pull this number out of a hat?
Juries are asked to make decisions beyond their core competencies every day. For example, what jurors are expert on forensic evidence like ballistics, fingerprints, and DNA? This is why there are expert witnesses at these trials.
 

foodtraveler

macrumors newbie
Mar 31, 2016
10
3
VirnetX was founded in 2007...Skype was founded in 2005...VirnetX won a patent lawsuit against Microsoft for using Skype $23M...basically VirnetX's "technology" is read like this...A device and method for establishing a connection between devices is disclosed. A first device receives a request to connect to a second network device and, based on the request, a determination is made as to whether the first device is set to a first communication mode or a second communication mode. If the first device is set to the first communication mode then a first name associated with the second device is sent to a first name service, the first name service supporting establishing an encrypted connection to the second device, a resource for the encrypted connection to the second device is received at the first device, and communication with the second device is established over the network via the encrypted connection using the received resource. If the first device is set to the second communication mode then communication with the second device is established via a second connection.

I also love how if you visit virnetx.com and scroll to the bottom, the sell their VPN software on Apple's App Stores and Google as well. Without Apple or other developers being able to use VPN, they would have nowhere to even sell their product...double dipping like a mother trucker.
 

H2SO4

macrumors 603
Nov 4, 2008
5,689
6,960
Hard to objectively determine that someone is a patent troll.



VirnetX doesn't really have products of their own. Their main business is in patent litigation. Ergo, they're a patent troll.
Your choice of words is odd.
VirnetX doesn’t really have or doesn’t have. Be specific, which is it?
Also what if I have patents that I hold but have no intention of using. That make me a patent troll too?
 

shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
Where is the trolling & who are you calling a moronic monkey, Lol...Apple had offered to pay 112m for using patented technology!

You cannot just take patented technology owned by whomever & use it for your own self gain whithout paying...?


By that same logic you can not patent whatever you like with no intention of turning it into a usable product/service and then wait for someone to come up with the same idea as you and then demand you pay them unlimited amounts of money.
Apple should not have done what they did but Virnetx should not have either and should work for a living like the rest of us have to.
 

Slarti.BartFast

Cancelled
Dec 28, 2012
65
35
That was so strange. Since VirnetX never invented anything, I thought you were poetically building to a condemnation of that company for being the antithesis of a creator, an inventor, someone who, as you say, identifies, frames, and solves a problem. VirnetX of course does none of this. And suddenly you pivot to a letter-of-the-law statement defending them. Even if you side with them, I don’t understand how your preamble logically leads to your conclusion. Instead, your preamble reads more like part of an argument for patent law reform so parasites like VirnetX, the ambulance chasers of the corporate world, get castrated.
Fair point, I didn't make the point that the patent system exists to record the 'owner' of the idea and allows for that idea to be traded in the same way a car or book is. Clearly a downside of that may be a company exists just to make money from other people's ideas, but provided the inventor is paid for their original idea and they allow a company like VirnetX to buy it, then the system is still working and Apple are still liable.
 

shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
Agreed. When Apple steals patented technology, so many fans turn a blind eye, and the company protecting their IP are patent trolls. When apple sues to protect their IP, they are considered heroes.

Apple are guilty, so what do you want, a ticker tape parade? However Virnetx are guilty as well and so many Apple haters turn a blind eye no matter how much these patent trolls abuse the system.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,469
5,971
Well apple sued Samsung for rounded corners on their icons.
That is a gross and incorrect oversimplification of the various Apple v. Samsung cases.

In any case, lawsuits are used as a mechanism to protect IP. Whether or not the suit is successful is often not important. The legal process is important.
 

neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,469
5,971
I haven't looked at VirnetX's financial filings in a while. But the last time I did, it had no regular revenue to speak of. It was clear that essentially the entire current value of the company was based on what the market expected it to get from its suits against Apple.

So there wouldn't have been anything worth paying for, even assuming the owners would have been willing to sell at a price close to the company's market value. And even if Apple bought the company, that wouldn't save it from having to pay substantial portions of these judgments. VirnetX doesn't get to keep all of the money it will get from these suits. It has the right to sue for infringement of these patents based on agreements it made with the patents' (previous) owners. Those agreements require VirnetX to pay part of whatever it recovers to those owners.
They run a yearly loss of about $20 - 30 million (https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/vhc/financials). In 2019 they had $85,000 in revenue, which was down from their $1.5 million in 2015.

All evidence suggests they are a patent troll (they also might be a business that exists to generate consistent losses to reduce tax burdens).
 

shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
these guys are operating within the law, that's their right. No argument that the law should be modified but until that point ... Apple violated a patent period.
this case went to the Supreme Court, read below:

And today, even Apple files patents on things that they are not planning to take into production, you find examples in the news stories even on this site, and many many other companies do the same ... one of Qualcomm's larger biz model is to own patents and claim royalties, remember that there was a battle between Qualcomm and Apple?

Different tis that Apple tends to use most of the stuff they patent whereas Virnetx and others like them Never use a dam thing!
 
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shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
Not according to VirnetX's SEC filings, to include the assignment agreement it entered into with SAIC (later Leidos).

Mr. Short is indeed listed as an inventor for the two patents at issue in this case. But that doesn't mean he or VirnetX have always been the owners - i.e., in this context, the assignees - of those patents. The '135 patent was originally assigned to SAIC. A parent application for what became the '151 patent was originally filed by SAIC (as assignee). That patent and that application are part of what VirnetX acquired certain rights to as part of the agreement I previously referred to.

It shouldn't be hard to find that agreement (and amendments thereto) if you want to read them for yourself.
Except that Virnetx now own ALL the rights to the patent and not any previous owners. Virnetx keep all the money and nt a single cent goes anywhere else to any previous owners. That is reality and how it works.
 
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neuropsychguy

macrumors 68020
Sep 29, 2008
2,469
5,971
Also what if I have patents that I hold but have no intention of using. That make me a patent troll too?
Not necessarily but if all you do with them is sue companies with the hope that it will pay off then that is exactly the definition of a patent troll: https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/patent-troll.asp

"While the practice of patent trolling is not illegal, a company that acts as a patent troll files patent claims without any intention of ever developing a product or service. The end result is bad faith infringement threats and licensing demands that require companies to spend a significant amount of money to settle these claims without any addition to the public good."
 

shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
He is. But the one patent I referred to was assigned to SAIC, and an earlier application for the other patent was filed by SAIC. The inventor listed on a patent (or application) isn’t necessarily the effective owner.

VirnetX acquired rights to a bunch of patents and patent applications from SAIC in, IIRC, 2006.

Virnetx are the current owners and thus get all of any payments.
 

shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
It has never occurred to any Apple fan in this forum, that the reason VirnetX hold these patents is because Apple (and sooo many other big companies) refuse to license and rather go to court?

Small innovative companies patents their ideas in the hope that some big company will use their tech and they will reap the reward of their hard work. Instead, big tech just give them the middle finger with the classic "so sue us", knowing full well that small companies have absolutely no chance against the army of lawyers of big tech.

Their only option may be to sell their patents to vultures like VirnetX. "Patent trolls" gets their patents from somewhere, usually companies bankrupt or soon-to-be, it's not like they come up with the ideas (hence "patent trolls").

Sooooo, if Apple, and other big tech companies would ever decide to license in the first place instead of waiting to get sued by a "patent troll", innovation could happen outside of big tech, and I think everyone would be better off.

No, the reason Virnetx hold patents like this eis to patent troll because they do not wish to work for a living like the rest of us. Too bad Apple haters can not see that or are all the negative Apple posts here from Virnetx employees?
 
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Sasparilla

macrumors 68000
Jul 6, 2012
1,966
3,386
Have to LOL at the comments supporting VirnetX, VirnetX was created by a group of people from the NSA - and this patent specifically was designed to block peer to peer messaging, forcing information to go through a server, which is much more to the NSA's liking. Apple offered to pay license fees at the time and VirnetX said no.

There are several companies like this and was presumably a strategy by the NSA to keep methods that are hard to spy / hack through off the market. This continues with patent creation to this day.
 
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69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,044
In between a rock and a hard place
By that same logic you can not patent whatever you like with no intention of turning it into a usable product/service and then wait for someone to come up with the same idea as you and then demand you pay them unlimited amounts of money.
Apple should not have done what they did but Virnetx should not have either and should work for a living like the rest of us have to.
What is it exactly that makes you think VirnetX patented something with no intention of turning it into a usable product or service? So that I'm clear, I'm asking about what you're using as a basis for your opinion.
 
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shplock

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2015
846
484
Somewhere in a Galaxy far far away
well another example of Apple giving away somebody else’s property under the guise of Apple benevolence? If FaceTime was to be open, develop it without using other folks property.

Remember when Apple Music was first announced with a 3 month free trial...giving away musicians property for nothing; giving away someone else’s property under the guise of Apple benevolence. Only an internet uproar made Apple relent and pay the royalties during the “free” trial.
Not how it works. When a musician agrees that their work can be streamed through a service such as Apple Music they no longer have ANY say on the distribution side of things which includes free trial periods.
It is the same with music labels and is the reason why Prince got so mad with us record label because he had little to no rights( in his mind) so he ended up finding a way out of it and hence the change of name.
 
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