Apple must pay Taction Technology $5.7 billion for patent infringement

The company Taction Technology accuses Apple of having wrongly used a special technology. This provides the vibration alarm in the iPhone and Apple Watch. The US jury finds Apple guilty, but sees no intentional patent infringement.

According to a verdict from a US jury, Apple is to pay around $5.7 billion (the equivalent of around five billion euros) for violating two patents. In the process, the company Taction Technology accused the group of using its technology in the so-called "Taptic Engine", which, for example, triggers the vibration alarms in the iPhone and the Apple Watch computer watch.

The jury saw a total of three points from the two patents violated. They awarded Taction exactly $5,721,961,750 - around five billion euros. Apple announced on US broadcaster CNBC that it disagreed with the decision and would appeal. An Apple spokesman emphasized that the company does not use Taction's technology.

Taction sued Apple in the US District Court for the Southern District of California back in 2021. According to the lawsuit, the company accused Apple of unlawfully "taking advantage of Taction's innovation and success" by selling devices that infringed on its vibration technology, CNBC reported. Apple initially got the lawsuit dismissed in 2023, but the federal appeals court later reopened the case.

It is not uncommon for juries to award large sums in patent trials in the USA. However, it also happens again and again that the amounts are sometimes significantly reduced in appeal proceedings. The federal jury in San Diego also found that Apple had not intentionally infringed the patents. Otherwise the amount could have tripled.