Apple hit with a $5.7 billion verdict for alleged patent infringement

Rabanser/Shutterstock

Apple is currently on the hook for a record-breaking patent infringement case, after a federal jury decided that the iPhone maker has to pay more than $5.7 billion to Taction, a San Diego-based company that produces audio and gaming peripherals with haptic feedback. If the decision holds, it would be one of the largest patent infringement case payouts in the US, topping an ongoing case involving Intel for $3 billion.

Taction filed the lawsuit back in 2021, alleging that Apple's Taptic Engine found in its various iPhone and Apple Watch models infringed on two of its patents related to haptic feedback. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2023 by a federal judge in San Diego, but later brought back into the courts following a decision by the US ​Court ⁠of Appeals for the Federal Circuit a couple of years later. The latest jury verdict from Friday said that Apple unintentionally infringed on two of Taction's patents. According to Bloomberg Law, Apple didn't agree with the jury's decision nor the damages and would appeal the verdict.

Before the Taction lawsuit, Apple was previously hit with another patent infringement lawsuit from Immersion. The company filed a complaint against Apple, also accusing it of patent violations with haptic tech found in iPhones, Apple Watches and MacBooks, but eventually settled for an undisclosed amount. More notably, Apple is in the midst of another patent infringement battle surrounding its Apple Watch and a feature that tracks blood-oxygen levels. In November, another federal jury ruled that Apple has to pay $634 million for violation patents from Masimo, but the tech giant is similarly planning to appeal this jury verdict.