Jury Orders Apple to Pay $5.7 Billion in Taction Haptic Patent Case

A federal jury has awarded Taction more than $5.7 billion after finding that Apple's Taptic Engine in iPhones and Apple Watches infringed two of the company's haptic technology patents.

The verdict, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, found infringement of claims 17 and 19 of U.S. Patent No. 10,659,885 and claim 16 of U.S. Patent No. 10,820,117. Jurors awarded Taction $5,721,961,750 in damages. They did not find that Apple willfully infringed either patent and rejected Apple's argument that the three claims at issue were invalid.

Apple said it plans to appeal. "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 to Reuters. "Apple does not use Taction's technology, and we will appeal." Taction attorney Lance Yang said, "We're happy the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights."

Reuters describes the $5.7 billion award as the largest U.S. verdict of its kind to date. Taction, which is based in San Diego and uses its technology in headphones and gaming headsets, filed the lawsuit in 2021. The company accused Apple of using its patented designs in the Taptic Engine after buying and reverse-engineering two Kannon headsets that incorporated Taction technology. Apple denied the allegations and argued that the patents were invalid.

A federal judge granted Apple summary judgment of noninfringement in 2023, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated that decision in August 2025 and sent the case back for further proceedings.