U.S. appeals court denies Apple bid for rehearing in VirnetX patent case

By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday denied a request by Apple Inc <AAPL.O> that it reconsider a decision upholding a finding Apple iPhones infringed VirnetX Holding Corp <VHC.A> patents relating to secure communications technology.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declined to reconsider a split decision it issued on Nov. 22 in the long-running litigation.

In the November ruling, a three-judge panel of the court voided a jury’s calculation that Apple should pay $503 million (389.6 million pounds) for infringing VirnetX patents.

But in a partial victory for VirnetX, the Federal Circuit left in place a Texas jury’s finding that some versions of the iPhone infringed two VirnetX patents, setting the stage for another trial.

Apple had urged all of the judges sitting on the court to reconsider that part of the three-judge panel's decision.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Editing by Tom Brown)