VirnetX Brings VPN Patent Battle to Apple, Cisco

By Geoff Duncan Published August 16, 2010

Image used with permission by copyright holder

After winning a $200 million patent infringement settlement from Microsoft, VPN technology company is expanding its legal fusillade to include other technology giants: the company has filed suit in the patent holder-friendly Eastern Texas U.S. District Court against a series of companies for infringing on its VPN patents. The named defendants in the suit are Apple, Cisco, NEC, and Aastra.

The suit alleges the companies infringe on five VirnetX patents, and seeks unspecified injunctive relief and damages. The suit claims Apple mobile devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) infringe on at least one of the patents (7,490,151) having to do with setting up secure communications using DNS. The claims against Aastra, NEC, and Cisco focus on VoIP products—including VoIP phones.

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VirnetX acquired the patents in question when it acquired Science Applications International back in 2006. Science Applications mainly operated as a defense contractor. Shortly after the acquisition, VirnetX sued Microsoft for infringing on two of the company’s patents in Microsoft Office Communicator and Windows Meeting Space; VirnetX won the trial in March of this year and expanded the litigation to include Windows 7 before Microsoft agreed to a settlement.

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