The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review Apple's victory in a $503 million patent verdict.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected patent-licensing company's request to reinstate a $502.8 million jury award it received against in a legal battle over internet security patents.

The Supreme Court rejected VirnetX's appeal of a lower court's decision to overturn the verdict against Apple in a patent dispute. VirnetX had challenged the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decisions to invalidate its patents.

The ongoing legal dispute between Apple and VirnetX, which began 14 years ago, centers on VirnetX's internet security patents and has resulted in multiple trials and appeals.

In 2020, the jury granted VirnetX $502.8 million due to Apple's iPhones and iPads being found to infringe on patents related to virtual private networks.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the patent office enables petitioners to challenge the validity of certain patents through inter partes review (IPR), a process frequently utilized by big tech companies to contest patents they are accused of infringing.

Apple's requests to invalidate patents were rejected by the board because it was discovered that Apple had waited too long to file its petitions. Later, the board declared the patents invalid based on separate requests from hedge fund Mangrove Partners in cases where Apple was allowed to join.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the decisions to invalidate the patents and overturned the verdict last year. VirnetX had argued that letting the rulings stand would incentivize the "harassment" of patent owners at the board.

"Entities with no discernable stake are filing IPR petitions challenging patents successfully asserted in litigation, only for well-heeled but time-barred infringement defendants to join the proceedings and shoulder the cost," VirnetX stated.

Intel was granted permission to challenge a VLSI patent in a multi-billion-dollar dispute with OpenSky Industries, which was removed from the case due to its misconduct. The patent office director, Kathi Vidal, imposed sanctions on OpenSky for attempting to extort both sides in the dispute.

Drew Hirshfeld, the former interim director of the patent office, was accused by VirnetX of exceeding his authority by denying their requests for director review of the decisions made by him.

The patent office, represented by President Joe Biden's administration, urged the justices to reject the case as Apple and Mangrove argued that VirnetX's claims were not backed by federal law.

In 2016, Apple was found to have used VirnetX's security technology in features such as FaceTime video calls, resulting in a $440 million payout for VirnetX.