Apple is deemed an infringer in two, make that three new cases

A jury in the U.S. Court for the Eastern District of Texas has ruled Apple’s FaceTime, Dick Tracy-esque, video-calling technology found in pre-iPhone 5 devices infringes four patents owned VirnetX, and ordered Apple to pay more than $368M in damages. Techcrunch reports the patents in question are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151. Apple still has the right to appeal.

On the same day (November 6) of the verdict, VirnetX filed another suit, in the same venue, with respect to the same patents, but this time going after iPhone 5, the newest iPads, and “all Apple computers/hardware associated with the operation of the Mountain Lion operating system.” In the new lawsuit, VirnetX also is seeking an injunction banning the sales of any of the named devices.

Contemporary with this, Apple settled with Swiss national rail operator SBB for using its famous clock face without permission in iOS 6 (the newest Apple operating system), paying $21M for the equivalent of a lump-sum license.

In September the tech giant lost a copyright infringement case brought by China Publishing House, which claimed that Apple allowed the sale of an app containing verbatim sections of "Encyclopedia of China" without consent.  The Chinese court awarded $83,000 to the plaintiff, which Apple is appealing.