Apple was ordered to pay $5 billion 721 million 961 thousand 750 in damages in a lawsuit filed by Taction Technology alleging that Apple infringed two patents covering Taptic Engine technology. The jury found that Apple infringed two claims in one of the patents and one claim in the other, but did not find that the infringement had been proven willful.
In the lawsuit filed in 2021, Apple’s defense that the patents were invalid was also rejected. Apple said it would appeal the decision, stating that it did not use Taction’s technology and that the damages were not supported by the evidence. Taptic Engine was first introduced in the Apple Watch in 2014.
Why it matters
The decision shows that patent rights covering haptic feedback technologies used in smartwatches can have direct financial and legal consequences for major technology companies. The rejection of the defense that the patents were invalid demonstrates that the legal validity of the patents, as well as their technical use, was at the center of the dispute. The jury’s failure to find willful infringement shows that a distinction was made between establishing infringement and determining its nature, and that the parties’ liability was not assessed on the same legal basis. Apple’s plan to appeal means that the damages award and the infringement findings will undergo review by a higher court; therefore, the case’s final outcome and how the decision will affect Apple’s use of the technology in the relevant products remain unclear.
Background
Apple is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 78 news articles mentioning this name in the last 90 days; the latest is dated October 3, 2026.