Jury Hits Apple with $5.7 Billion Verdict Over Haptics Patents

A federal jury in San Diego handed down a $5.7 billion damages verdict against Apple on Friday, finding the tech giant infringed two haptics patents held by Taction Technology — one of the largest patent infringement verdicts in recent memory. The seven-person jury deliberated for two days before ruling in Taction's favor, though it stopped short of finding Apple's infringement willful, which would have opened the door to even higher treble damages.

The case centers on U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, both covering vibration-based tactile transducer technology that makes devices physically respond to user input. Taction argued that Apple's Taptic Engine — the haptic feedback system embedded in iPhones and Apple Watches — exploits its patented inventions without a license. Taction originally filed suit in 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, but the road to verdict was rocky: Apple won a dismissal in 2023 before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case.

Apple pushed back sharply on the outcome, insisting its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction's technology and that Taction's own product testing during trial actually confirmed this. The company said the damages figure is entirely unsupported by the facts and announced it will appeal. Taction's lead counsel Lance Yang of Quinn Emanuel celebrated the verdict as a vindication of the startup's patent rights after a five-and-a-half-year legal odyssey to reach trial.

The verdict poses a significant — if not yet final — financial threat to Apple, which sells hundreds of millions of haptics-equipped devices annually. Patent awards of this scale are frequently reduced on appeal or through post-trial motions, but the jury's finding keeps pressure on Apple to either negotiate a licensing deal or prevail in appellate courts.