Apple is reportedly seeking to appeal the jury’s verdict.
Apple is currently facing a record patent infringement case, after a federal jury ruled that the iPhone maker must pay more than $5.7 billion to Taction, a San Diego-based company that produces audio and gaming peripherals with haptic feedback. If the ruling stands, it would be one of the largest patent infringement settlements in the United States, surpassing an ongoing case involving Intel for $3 billion.
Taction filed a lawsuit in 2021, alleging that Apple’s Taptic Engine found in its various iPhone and Apple Watch models infringed two of its patents related to haptic feedback. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2023 by a federal judge in San Diego, but then returned to court following a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a few years later. The jury’s latest verdict on Friday said Apple unintentionally infringed two of Taction’s patents. According to Bloomberg LawApple did not agree with the jury’s decision or the damages and would appeal the verdict.
Before the Taction lawsuit, Apple had already been the subject of another lawsuit for patent infringement by Immersion. The company filed a lawsuit against Apple, also accusing it of patent violations with haptic technology found in iPhones, Apple Watches and MacBooks, but ultimately settled for an undisclosed amount. Most notably, Apple is in the midst of another patent infringement battle over its Apple Watch and a feature that tracks blood oxygen levels. In November, another federal jury ruled that Apple must pay $634 million for infringing Masimo’s patents, but the tech giant also plans to appeal that jury verdict.
