Apple ordered to pay $5.7bn after losing vibration tech patent suit

Image source, Getty ImagesByLiv McMahonTechnology reporter

Published39 minutes ago

Apple has been ordered to pay $5.7bn (£4.3bn) in damages after a US jury found it had used another firm's tech without permission.

Audio firm Taction Technology claimed in 2021 that Apple had infringed two of its patents for haptics systems, which enable vibrations for actions such as receiving a message or pressing a button.

This tech is built into devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple has been approached for comment. In a statement given to news outlets including CNBC, external, the company said it had not used Taction's vibration tech and would appeal the verdict.

"While we thank the jury for their consideration, we strongly disagree with today's verdict and the damages awarded, which are entirely unsupported by the facts," Apple said.

"Apple's Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction's technology, which Taction's own testing of Apple's products confirmed during trial."

Haptics allow people to interact with devices by simulating the sense of touch or feel through vibrations.

They have become a hallmark of modern devices, with smartphones, watches and video game controllers among those containing small motors that move in response to specific electronic signals.

The first edition Apple Watch, with a lime green band, shown on a display alongside other brightly coloured Apple Watches in 2014

Image source, Getty Images

Apple's "Taptic Engine" system - enabling haptic feedback in its devices - first debuted with the Apple Watch in 2014.

Since then, it has improved its underlying system, and with that expanded haptics in its devices.

Taction, which makes headphones and gaming headsets, claimed in 2021 that these improvements infringed patents it was issued in 2020.

It wrote in its complaint, external that by producing better haptic vibrations in its devices, Apple had been able to improve its overall user experience.

As such, the tech giant had been "capitalising on Taction's innovation and success by selling devices that infringe [its] patents", Taction said.

It also accused Apple of using its inventions "without license or authority".

A San Diego judge ruled in 2023 that Apple did not infringe upon Taction's patents.

However, an appeal was subsequently taken up by a federal appeal circuit - resulting in a September jury trial at the US District Court for the Southern District of California which found in its favour.

In Friday's verdict, external, jurors did not find that Apple had infringed the patents in question willingly.

It marks one of many similar lawsuits the tech giant has defended itself against in recent years.

In November 2025 a judge ordered Apple to pay $634m, external to medical tech firm Masimo after a jury found it had infringed a patent for blood-oxygen reading tech.