US jury orders Apple to pay $5.7bn in Taction haptics patent case, Apple to appeal

Pinned summary · as of 05:22

A federal jury in the Southern District of California has told Apple to pay more than $5.7bn to Taction Technology, a San Diego company, after deciding that Apple's haptic feedback technology infringed two Taction patents. Apple rejects the finding and says it will appeal.

What we know

• The jury ruled against Apple in a case over the Taptic Engine, the component that produces vibration feedback in iPhones and the Apple Watch, and set damages at about $5.7bn.
• Jurors decided that the infringement was not wilful, meaning they did not find that Apple knowingly broke the patents.
• Taction sued in 2021. A judge found in Apple's favour in 2023, but an appeals court later brought the case back, and it went before a jury this month.
• Apple said it intends to appeal. It says the Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from what Taction makes, a point it says Taction's own testing supported during the trial.
• Lance Yang, a lawyer for Taction, said: "We're happy the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights."

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  Citi Newsroom said Taction's first court filing charged Apple with marketing products built on its patented inventions with no licence, and with deliberately ignoring the risk. Those are Taction's allegations; the jury did not find wilful infringement.
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  TechFocus24 reported, citing Bloomberg Law for one detail, that Taction's legal costs were funded by outside investors, Gronostaj Investments and Kenosha Investments, and, citing Bloomberg Law, that a separate lawsuit links Kenosha indirectly to Burford Capital as a subsidiary. No other report has confirmed this.
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  Citi Newsroom reported that Apple shares fell by about two per cent as trading began on Monday, and that John Ternus recently succeeded Tim Cook as chief executive. Neither point has been confirmed by other reports.

Why it matters for Ghana

Vibration feedback is part of how many Ghanaians use iPhones and Apple Watches every day, and the award is one of the largest patent verdicts against the company. Apple has said it will appeal, so the payment is not yet settled and the case may go on for some time. For Ghana's growing base of phone users and mobile app developers, the ruling shows how patent claims over small phone components can carry very large financial consequences.