Apple hit with $5.7 billion in damages over haptic patents — SkimNews
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- A federal jury in San Diego awarded Taction over $5.7 billion in damages after finding Apple's Taptic Engine infringed two of the haptics company's patents.
- Taction sued Apple in 2021, alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, which both cover vibration-based tactile transducer technology that lets users feel a device respond to input.
- The jury found Apple infringed two claims in one patent and one claim in the other, but did not find willful infringement.
- Taction had accused Apple of reverse-engineering the technology from two Kannon gaming headsets without a proper license.
- Apple said it intends to appeal the decision.
Why it matters: The Taptic Engine is a core piece of Apple's hardware identity across iPhones and Apple Watches, so even with Apple's stated intent to appeal, a $5.7 billion judgment — based on a jury finding of infringement, though not willful — represents real financial exposure for a feature embedded across Apple's flagship product lines.
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