Apple Gets Path to Escape $503 Million Patent Infringement Award

Apple Inc. received a victory Thursday when a Federal Circuit panel agreed with a patent tribunal that a pair of VirnetX Inc. patents are invalid, undermining a $503 million jury verdict that the software company secured against the tech giant.

Writing for the panel, Judge Leonard P. Stark said the Patent Trial and Appeal Board rightly found the online communication patents were anticipated by a 1996 article about the development of a secure HTTP-based web network, nicknamed Kiuchi.

“The Board’s findings that Kiuchi anticipates claims of the ’135 and ’151 patents are supported by substantial evidence,” Stark wrote.

During oral ...