Jury awards VirnetX $106M in Microsoft dispute

[March 17, 2010]  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A jury has awarded communications company VirnetX Holding nearly $106 million after determining Microsoft violated two of its patents.

The verdict came Tuesday after a weeklong trial in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Lawyers for VirnetX, which is based in Scotts Valley, say the $105.75 million verdict was $71.75 million for infringing one patent, and $34 million for infringing another.

The patents cover ways to establish virtual private network, or VPN, connections, which are used to protect Internet and other data traffic from snoops. The traffic is generally encrypted, or scrambled so outsiders can't decipher it.

Microsoft says it is disappointed by the jury's verdict and that it believes it didn't infringe the patents. It says it will appeal.

[Associated Press]

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