Last Updated on February 4, 2016

Apple has been ordered to pay $625 million to , an innovation-thwarting troll, VirnetX owing to their infringement on patents used in its iMessage and FaceTime services according to Virnet attorneys.

In an email response from Apple to AFP inquiry, :We are surprised and disappointed by the verdict and we are going to appeal. Apple also stated that its employees independently designed the technology for over many years and they received patents to protect the intellectual property. All four of VirnetX’s patents have been found invalid by the patent office. Cases like this simply reinforce the desperate need for patent reform,” it said in a statement.

“The jury saw what we have been saying all along: Apple has been infringing VirnetX’s patented technology for years,” the legal firm that represents VirnetX said in a statement.

VirnetX in question makes almost of its revenue from patent licensing and lawsuits, has sued a number of tech companies over the past decade. It settled a 2014 dispute with Microsoft over patents used in Skype, pocketing $24 million in the process, and made $200 million from the Redmond-based company via a 2010 case.