Apple hit with record $5.7B patent verdict it may never pay

A federal jury in San Diego has ordered Apple to pay $5.7 billion to Taction Technology Inc. after deciding the iPhone maker’s Taptic Engine infringed two of Taction’s haptic patents. 

The verdict is the largest yet in U.S. patent history. However, Apple’s history of appealing such verdicts suggests the check may never clear. 

Why does Apple have to pay $5.7 billion?

Taction accused Apple of copying the hardware that creates the taps and vibrations users feel on an iPhone or Apple Watch, called tactile transducer technology. 

The disputed patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117 cover systems that produce vibrations in the 40 to 200 Hz range that can be perceived through touch. 

The San Diego jury deliberated across parts of two days before returning its verdict ordering Apple to pay $5.7 billion to Taction Technology Inc. 

However, the jurors also decided that Apple’s infringement was not willful, meaning Taction will be unable to benefit from the federal patent law that lets judges triple an award in cases of serious infringement. 

Apple has argued against the jury’s verdict and the amount it was ordered to pay, insisting that its Taptic Engine works differently from the patented designs.

The case will now return to U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson for post-trial proceedings. Apple is expected to ask him to reduce the amount of the ordered settlement or order a fresh damages trial. 

Taction first sued in 2021, but Judge Robinson handed Apple a summary judgment win in 2023, throwing out Taction’s claims before trial after excluding testimony from Taction’s technical expert, Dr. James Oliver. The judge also narrowed how the patents were read. 

The Federal Circuit reversed that in August 2025, ruling the district court abused its discretion by excluding the expert’s opinions and misreading the patent claims.

What is Apple’s history with settlements? 

Apple has been on the losing end of enormous patent verdicts before, and appeals courts have a track record of significantly reducing the money owed. 

In 2018, the Federal Circuit erased a roughly $500 million win for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, ruling that jurors had no reasonable basis to find infringement. 

Two years earlier, a Texas judge threw out a $625.6 million VirnetX verdict over FaceTime and iMessage patents and ordered new trials. 

The Federal Circuit also canceled a $300 million Optis Cellular award and sent it back for a third trial. It also wiped out a $1.1 billion Caltech verdict on a faulty damages theory. 

More recently, a California jury handed Masimo $634 million in November 2025 over Apple Watch health-sensor patents. Apple is currently appealing that verdict too.

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