VirnetX refiles ITC complaint against Apple
updated 11:18 am EDT, Mon September 17, 2012
Company tries to work around previous dismissal
VirnetX has refiled a complaint with the US International Trade Commission against Apple, according to an announcement. The new filing is being made jointly with Science Applications International Corporation, and is meant to deal with a "procedural standing issue" that led the ITC to dismiss the previous complaint. The iPhone 5 is now also included. VirnetX is asking the ITC to investigate Apple's imports, and eventually hand down orders banning them, and blocking any US sales of allegedly patent-infringing products.
The company says it expects an ITC probe to start on or around October 13th, and that a trial could go ahead in the second half of 2013. More likely, however, is an out-of-court settlement, should the ITC and courts allow proceedings to move forward. For large corporations such as Apple, a settlement is a considerable savings on time and money versus the expense of a trial; the recent US Apple v. Samsung trial is a rare example of settlement talks failing.
