Fruity cargo cult Apple has sort of won an appeal against a patent licensing outfit.
VirnetX won a $625.6 million claiming that Apple had copied its technology on four patents relating to internet security technology. Apple has not exactly got the case thrown out, as the Tame Apple Press has claimed.
US District Judge Robert Schroeder in Tyler, Texas said it was unfair to Apple that two VirnetX lawsuits had been combined into a single trial. Apparently this caused confusion in the eyes of the jury who heard more than 50 references to an earlier case, though it contained "incredibly similar" issues. This would have made them think that the previous jury had found Apple's liable for willful infringement.
"The repeated references to the prior jury verdict in the consolidated case resulted in an unfair trial," Schroeder wrote.
He ordered that both cases be retried separately, with the first trial beginning on September 26.
VirnetX claimed that the fruity cargo cult had used its technology in FaceTime and iMessage. The $625.6 million verdict announced in February was one of the highest in a US patent case.
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