A federal jury in San Diego ruled that Apple must pay over $5.7 billion to haptics company Taction Technology, finding the iPhone and Apple Watch maker infringed two patents behind its vibration-based Taptic Engine. It is one of the largest patent infringement payouts in U.S. history, surpassing an ongoing $3 billion case against Intel.
Taction sued Apple in 2021 over U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, covering vibration-based tactile transducer technology. A federal judge dismissed the case in 2023, but the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revived it. After a trial that began September 14, jurors deliberated two days before finding Apple's infringement unintentional but still liable for the full damages.
Apple says its Taptic Engine, which debuted on the Apple Watch in 2014 and expanded to the iPhone 6s in 2015, is "fundamentally different" from Taction's technology and plans to appeal both the verdict and the damages figure. The ruling adds to a string of haptics-related patent fights for Apple, which previously settled with Immersion and is separately appealing a $634 million verdict won by Masimo over Apple Watch blood-oxygen sensors.