US jury orders Apple to pay record $5.7 billion in Taction haptics patent case
A federal jury in San Diego has ordered Apple to pay more than $5.7 billion to Taction Technology after finding its Taptic Engine infringed two patents — described by Reuters as the largest such verdict in US history. Apple says it will appeal.
A US jury has ruled that Apple must pay more than $5.7 billion to San Diego-based Taction Technology after finding that the haptic feedback technology in iPhones and Apple Watches infringed two of the smaller company’s patents — what Reuters described as the largest such verdict in US history. Apple said it would appeal.
The jury said on Friday that Apple’s Taptic Engine, the hardware that creates the tapping vibrations behind notifications, button presses and other interactions, infringed two Taction patents, according to the Reuters report carried by The Hindu. Taction filed the lawsuit in 2021.
Apple rejected the ruling outright. “Apple’s Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction’s technology, which Taction’s own testing of Apple’s products confirmed during trial,” the company said in a statement. “Apple does not use Taction’s technology, and we will appeal.”
“We’re happy the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights,” said Taction’s lead counsel Lance Yang, whose firm told CNBC the company had waited five and a half years to get the case to trial.
The dispute centres on two patents — US Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117 — covering a “vibration module for applying vibrational tractions to a wearer’s skin,” according to 9to5Mac’s reporting of CNBC’s coverage. The Taptic Engine first debuted in the Apple Watch in 2014 and came to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus the following year, replacing the older vibration motor.
The case had been thrown out once before: a San Diego federal judge ruled in 2023 that Apple did not infringe the patents, but the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revived the lawsuit last year, according to Reuters. Taction, a California company whose technology is used in headphones and gaming headsets including Corsair’s HS60 Haptic headphones, has denied Apple its allegations and said the patents were invalid — a claim the appeals court rejection now puts back before the courts.
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