03 / September 2013

I am not a patent troll! Virnetx pushes back on attacks for patent suits

Posted in: Business Valuation Law News Written by: Sylvia Golden
Categories: case law analysis daubert economic damages & lost profits intellectual property
Tags: apple daubert patent litigation

Virnetx Inc. v. Cisco Systems, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28223 (March 1, 2013)

Virnetx is a small Nevada company with a reputation for litigiousness. In 2010, it sued multiple leading technology companies in federal court (E.D. Tex.), including Microsoft, Cisco, and Apple, alleging infringement of several patents for creating secure protocols for virtual private networks. It fared well against Microsoft, reaching a settlement for $200 million, and it did even better against Apple, winning a jury verdict of over $368 million. The latter suit is still alive. In fact, only a month ago, in August, the company announced it had been able to obtain two additional patents covering security technologies and would seek to incorporate them in its litigation with Apple, targeting the iPhone, iPad Mini, and iPod Touch.

Virnetx's winning streak came to a halt, at least temporarily, in March 2013 in the Cisco suit. First, its damages expert came under a Daubert attack. Next,  the jury found no liability and denied its request for $258 million in damages. In a recent article, "Trolling for Respect," Intellectual Property (an ALM Supplement Fall 2013), the company's outside counsel blames the loss on Cisco's "intentional efforts to confuse the jury" and calls the widespread denunciation of the company "offensive." As he sees it, Virnetx is a David fighting Goliaths. Its wants to bring a product to market but has to put all its efforts into protecting its intellectual properties from predatory major tech companies.
 

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