Jury orders Apple to pay record $5.7 billion in haptics patent case

Key Points

1. A US jury found Apple owes Taction Technology more than $5.7 billion over iPhone and Watch haptics.
2. Reuters says it is the largest patent-infringement jury verdict in US history to date.
3. Apple says it does not use Taction's technology and will appeal the award.

The latest:

Apple was ordered by a US jury on Friday to pay San Diego-based Taction Technology more than $5.7 billion for infringing two patents covering the haptic feedback in iPhones and Apple Watches, Reuters reported. Apple said it would appeal. It is the largest patent-infringement jury verdict recorded in the United States to date.

Details:

• The verdict: The jury found that Apple’s Taptic Engine, the component that produces the tapping vibrations users feel on iPhones and Apple Watches, infringed two patents held by Taction Technology, according to Reuters. The damages figure exceeds $5.7 billion, the largest sum a US jury has awarded in a patent-infringement case to date.
• Apple’s response: Apple said its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction’s technology, and argued that Taction’s own testing of Apple products during the trial confirmed as much. The company said in a statement that it does not use Taction’s technology and will appeal the verdict.
• The plaintiff: Taction Technology is a San Diego company that applies its haptic technology in headphones and gaming headsets. Its attorney, Lance Yang, said the company was happy the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights.
• The litigation timeline: Taction filed the lawsuit in 2021, Reuters reported. A San Diego federal judge ruled in 2023 that Apple did not infringe the patents, a decision that ended the case at the trial level until it was reopened on appeal.
• The appeal that revived it: The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the court that hears all US patent appeals, revived the case last year after the 2023 ruling in Apple’s favor. That revival returned the dispute to trial and produced Friday’s damages award.
• Apple’s defense: Apple denied Taction’s allegations throughout the case and argued that the patents at issue were invalid, according to Reuters. The jury’s finding of infringement on both patents rejected that position at the trial stage.
• What is at stake: The Taptic Engine is used across Apple’s two highest-volume product lines, iPhone and Apple Watch, meaning the disputed technology sits inside hardware shipped in the hundreds of millions of units. Apple has not said whether the verdict affects any product feature.
• Next legal step: Apple’s stated plan to appeal sends the case back toward the Federal Circuit, the same court that revived it. Damages awards of this size are frequently reduced or overturned on appeal, and Apple has not said when it will file.

Background:

Haptic feedback is the vibration hardware that simulates a physical tap or click on a touchscreen device. Apple markets its version as the Taptic Engine, introduced across its iPhone and Apple Watch lines and central to how the devices signal alerts and confirm on-screen actions.

Between the lines:

The size of the award is inseparable from the products involved: two patents applied to hardware in Apple’s highest-volume lines produce a damages base no niche component could reach. The verdict also reverses a trial-court ruling that had cleared Apple in 2023, and the appeals court that revived the case is the same venue Apple now returns to.

What’s next

Watch for Apple’s post-trial motions and its appeal filing at the Federal Circuit, where the $5.7 billion figure could be reduced or the infringement finding set aside.