On Friday, a US appeals court threw out a $502 million verdict against Apple Inc which had been won by patent licensing company VirnetX Inc, over an internet privacy technology.

After a US Patent Trial and Appeal Board had canceled the virtual private network (VPN) patents which VirnetX accused Apple of infringing upon, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled the verdict could no longer stand.

On Thursday, the Federal Circuit had affirmed the decision by the US Patent and Trademark Office tribunal which had ruled that the patents were invalid.

Neither Apple nor VirnetX immediately offered comment on the ruling.

The 13 year-long court battle between the two companies over VirnetX’s patents has involved several trials and appeals. In 2020, an east Texas jury had awarded VirnetX $502 million, after finding Apple had infringed on the patent which would later be ruled invalid.

VirnetX had separately won another verdict in east Texas for $302 million in 2016, which later was increased to $440 million, in a similar case alleging Apple had used its internet security technology in applications like its FaceTime video calls.