Apple Ordered to Pay $5.7bn in Haptics Patent Loss

A US jury has ordered Apple to pay $5.7bn (£4.3bn) in damages after finding the company used another firm's vibration technology without permission.

The verdict, delivered Friday at the US District Court for the Southern District of California, capped a legal fight that audio firm Taction Technology started in 2021. Taction claimed Apple infringed two of its patents covering haptics systems — the technology that produces vibrations when a user receives a message or presses a button.

The technology sits inside core Apple products, including the iPhone and Apple Watch.

Apple said it did not use Taction's vibration tech and will appeal. "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," the company 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 let people interact with devices by simulating the sense of touch through vibrations. Small motors in smartphones, watches and video game controllers move in response to specific electronic signals, and the feature has become a hallmark of modern hardware.

Apple's Taptic Engine — the system enabling haptic feedback across its devices — first debuted with the Apple Watch in 2014. The company has since improved the underlying system and expanded haptics into more of its products.

Taction, which makes headphones and gaming headsets, argued those improvements infringed patents it was issued in 2020. In its complaint, Taction said that by producing better haptic vibrations, Apple had improved its overall user experience — and had been "capitalising on Taction's innovation and success by selling devices that infringe [its] patents". It also accused Apple of using its inventions "without license or authority".

The case took a winding path to Friday's number. A San Diego judge ruled in 2023 that Apple did not infringe Taction's patents. A federal appeal circuit subsequently took up the case, and a September jury trial at the US District Court for the Southern District of California found in Taction's favor.

Jurors did not find that Apple infringed the patents willfully, a finding that can otherwise increase damages awards.

The ruling adds to a growing tally of patent losses for the tech giant. In November 2025, a judge ordered Apple to pay $634m to medical tech firm Masimo after a jury found it had infringed a patent for blood-oxygen reading technology.

With Apple committed to an appeal, the $5.7bn figure remains far from final — but the verdict signals that haptics, once a niche component feature, now carries billion-dollar legal stakes for the world's most valuable device maker.