A California jury has ruled that Apple must pay Taction Technology $5.721 billion in damages for alleged patent infringement related to the Taptic Engine, the haptic motor used in iPhones and Apple Watches. The verdict was delivered by the federal court of the southern district of California after a trial that began on September 14. The seven jurors deliberated for two days before setting the amount at $5,721,961,750. Reuters refers to this as a record for a patent case. Taction Technology, a San Diego-based company specializing in haptic feedback technology, accused Apple of infringing two of its patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117) within its Taptic Engine. The patents describe tactile transducers that produce vibrations in low frequencies, perceptible to the touch, with a damping system. According to Taction, the Taptic Engine uses the principle of its patents, namely a controlled and damped vibration applied to the skin. The case almost never reached a jury. In 2023, a judge, Todd W. Robinson, ruled in favor of Apple without a trial, stating that the expert opinion commissioned by Taction was a matter of judicial interpretation, not jury interpretation. However, in August 2025, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals overturned this decision, stating that the judge had wrongly dismissed part of the expert testimony provided by Taction, and the case was relaunched. The jury upheld two claims in one patent and one in the other. A claim is one of the legal phrases that precisely define what a patent protects. The jury therefore did not rule that Apple copied the entire two inventions. The jury also found that the infringement was not deliberate, which is important in American law, as a judge can triple the damages when the infringement is intentional. Apple contests the ruling as a whole. In a statement sent to several American media, the company states that its Taptic Engine is "fundamentally different" from Taction's technology and that Taction's own tests confirmed this during the trial. It also believes that the damages awarded are based on no facts. Apple will appeal. The company has already announced that it will appeal and will not pay immediately. The case will go back to Judge Todd W. Robinson at the San Diego court, where Apple can ask him to cancel or reduce the amount. If the case goes further, it will return to the federal court of appeals. The current verdict only sets damages. Apple is not prohibited from selling its iPhones and Apple Watches equipped with the Taptic Engine. For users, nothing changes immediately. The iPhones and Apple Watches vibrate as before, and no recall is planned. The company has previously faced similar legal challenges, including a 2016 lawsuit from Immersion, another specialist in haptic feedback, regarding the iPhone 6s and the Apple Watch. The two companies reached a friendly agreement, the amount of which was never made public. Taction Technology has been engaged in a legal battle with Apple since 2021. The company accuses Apple of having performed reverse engineering on two gaming headphones Kannon equipped with its technology, meaning that they were disassembled to understand how they work. The mechanism covered by Taction uses a ferrofluid, a magnetic liquid capable of adhering to the magnet responsible for the vibration to dampen the resonance. Apple admits to using a ferrofluid for the damping of the Taptic Engine and achieves a Q factor compatible with the range declared by Taction, but claims a different implementation of the technology, notably because the regularity of the response depends on a "closed-loop software controller." The company argues that without this, its vibrator would not fall within the range covered by the patent. Apple's appeal should logically delve into this aspect while challenging the calculation of damages and interest. If upheld on appeal, this amount would set a record for patent infringement damages in the United States. The details of the calculation have not been made public, but it is likely based on a lump sum, considered the fair royalty that Apple should have paid, multiplied by the number of iPhones and Apple Watches sold since the alleged infringement began.