Apple hit with $5.7 billion in damages over haptic patents

Haptics tech company Taction sued Apple in 2021, alleging it infringed two of its patents. Now a federal jury in San Diego has awarded Taction over $5.7 billion in damages. According to CNBC, “The lawsuit centered around U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, which both involve vibration-based, tactile transducer technology that helps users feel a device responding to their input.”

Taction argued that Apple’s Taptic Engine in its Apple Watches and iPhones used technology that it had developed without a proper license, and the jury agreed. It found that Apple had infringed on two claims in one patent and one in the other. However, the jury did not find that Apple willfully infringed. Taction had accused Apple of reverse-engineering the tech from two Kannon gaming headsets.

Apple has said that it intends to appeal the decision. We’ve reached out for additional comment and will update the story if and when we hear back.