A jury in Texas Friday ordered Apple Inc. pay VirnetX Holding Corp. $302.4 million in damages for over Apple’s use of VirnetX’s patented Internet security technology without permission.

Apple is alleged to have used VirnetX’s Virtual Private Network on Demand (VOD) technology in its Facetime software. The case, which dates all the way back to 2010, originally saw Apple ordered to pay VirnetX $368.2 million before that suit was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals. VirnetX refiled the suit, with Apple then being found liable to pay a $625.6 million fine, until the amount of the fine, but not the finding of infringement, was thrown out in July.

If that’s not involved enough, Reuters reports that Apple will face another court proceeding over the matter to determine whether it willfully infringed the patents as opposed to unintentionally infringing. A finding of willful infringement could lead to higher damages. So could a second lawsuit VirnetX has filed over the use of its patents in newer versions of Apple security features as well as its iMessage application.

Nevada-based VirnetX makes no products but instead licenses patents then files lawsuits against companies they claim are infringing on them, a practice commonly referred to as patent trolling.

Apple set to appeal

The hearings have been heard in East Texas, a jurisdiction known as ruling favorably towards litigants in patent infringement suits. But the case does not end there, with Apple set to appeal the ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., a court that specializes in patent matters and was the same court that threw out the initial finding in 2012.

VirnetX was awarded the patents by Science Applications International Corp in 2006. However, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducted a review of the four patents and found that none covered new inventions.

The Court of Appeals will consider Apple’s appeal on both the standard used by the patent office as well as the one used by the District Court in Texas. VirnetX needs to win on both instances to claim damages from Apple, so given the USPTO finding the chances of the appeal being successful are high.

Image credit: micurs/Flickr/CC by 2.0