The verdict, delivered on Friday, September 26, is the largest patent verdict ever handed down against a technology company in the United States.
Apple said it will appeal the verdict, describing it as unsupported by the facts. In a statement, the company said its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction's technology and that Taction's own testing of Apple's products confirmed that during the trial.
Apple also disputed the $5.72 billion damages figure, which the jury set after a trial that began on September 14 and ended with two days of deliberation.
The Two Patents at the Heart of the Case
The case centered on U.S. patents numbered 10,659,885 and 10,820,117, both covering damped tactile transducer designs. In practical terms, these describe the engineering that lets a device produce a precise tap or vibration that a user can feel, rather than a simple audible click.
Taction uses its technology in headphones and gaming headsets, and it argued that Apple built the Taptic Engine on the same concepts without a license.
Taction first filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing Apple of buying and reverse-engineering two Kannon headsets that incorporated its technology and then deploying the same ideas in the vibration hardware across iPhones and Apple Watches. Apple denied the allegations and argued that Taction's patents were invalid.
Notably, the jury agreed with Taction on infringement but did not find Apple's infringement to be willful, and it rejected Apple's claim that the patents at issue were invalid.
A Long Road to the Verdict
The verdict followed a winding legal path. A San Diego federal judge granted Apple summary judgment of noninfringement in 2023, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated that decision in 2025 and sent the case back for further proceedings.
Taction attorney Lance Yang welcomed the outcome, saying the company was happy that the jury had vindicated its patent rights.
Because Apple plans to appeal, the case is far from over, and the final payout could change substantially.
Still, the ruling is already one of the most closely watched patent decisions in years, both for its record-setting size and for what it signals about the value of foundational hardware patents in an era when haptics shape everything from smartphone keyboards to wearable fitness feedback.
