SCOTTS VALLEY — A federal jury in Texas awarded VirnetX, a small, publicly held company in Scotts Valley, $105.75 million Tuesday in a patent infringement case against Microsoft Corp.
An "extremely pleased" Kendall Larsen, VirnetX president and chief executive officer, called the nine-figure award "tremendous" and said it "verifies our belief that our patents are foundational and important." Larsen founded the 12-person company in 2005 to commercialize a patent portfolio derived from a Central Intelligence Agency security project. The company's patents relate to virtual private networking, technology that allows Internet users to securely communicate and collaborate over the Internet. The company holds over 48 U.S. and international patents and pending applications which it intends to use in the development of a licensing program and new software products.
The patent infringement suit was filed in 2007 and claimed that Microsoft had purposely violated existing patents in eight products that generate billions of dollars in annual revenues and include Windows Vista, Windows XP, Server 2003, Server 2008 and Office Communicator.
After years of pre-trial hearings, a jury began to hear the case on March 8. The jury decided Tuesday that Microsoft had infringed on two VirnetX patents and had done so willfully or with knowledge, which opens the door for VirnetX to request injunctive relief.
The case is far from over as Microsoft is expected to appeal.
"We look forward to the appeals process as further validation of our patents," Larsen said. " With this landmark decision behind us, we can now fully concentrate on our licensing program, Secure Domain Name Registry, essential 4G security patents, and Gabriel Connection Technology Beta." The company's target market is estimated to be more than $100 billion and the company has been cited in recent months as a good buy within the investment community. In December, however, the company reported a third quarter loss of more than $2.2 million. The company reported a loss of nearly $10 million for the first nine months of 2009 and an accumulated a debt of more than $33 million.
Yet, with every favorable court ruling, VirnetX has watched its stock price rise. It went from $1.05 a year ago to $6.29 Wednesday.
The Scotts Valley Drive office was buzzing with news this week.
"It's not every day that you win against the largest software company in the world," said Greg Wood, director of corporate communications. "This goes a long ways in validating our patent portfolio."
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