Apple has been ordered to pay more than $5.7 billion to Taction Technology after a federal jury in San Diego found that the company infringed touch technology patents. The award, according to the report, is the largest patent damages verdict in U.S. history.
The jury said Apple improperly benefited from Taction Technology’s innovation and commercial work by selling infringing touch-enabled devices. During the case, Apple’s technology chief argued that the haptic engine used in its products was "fundamentally different" from Taction’s technology. The San Diego district court had accepted an initial round of evidence supporting that position, but the jury still returned a majority verdict against Apple.
Case timeline: filed in 2021, revived after dismissal
Taction Technology first sued Apple in 2021, alleging patent infringement across the iPhone and iPad product lines. A trial judge dismissed the case in 2023, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit later reversed that decision and reinstated the lawsuit. After the case was reheard, the jury delivered its verdict on Sept. 28.
Damages far exceed the prior record cited in the report
The report said the previous U.S. record for patent damages was a $13.4 million payment from Texas Instruments to Philips in 2019. On that basis, the more than $5.7 billion awarded in this case is about 42.5 times larger. The article also said the amount is roughly equivalent to NT$20 billion for Apple.
Apple says the award has no factual basis
Apple pushed back on the ruling. A company spokesperson said the jury’s damages figure was "completely unsupported by the facts" and added that testing presented by Taction during trial showed that the two technologies were different. Apple said it will appeal.
Another patent dispute for Apple
The report said this is not the first time Apple has faced consequences in a patent fight. It referenced an earlier case in which two Apple Watch models were forced off the market in 2025 after the U.S. International Trade Commission blocked them over blood oxygen patent infringement. The article framed that dispute as another sign of intensifying competition around touch and sensing technologies.
What comes next
Taction Technology argued that the patents at issue cover touch technology used broadly across the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch lines. Given Apple’s annual sales volume in the tens of millions of devices, the report said per-device infringement damages could add up quickly. It also noted that the final amount could still be reduced if Apple succeeds on appeal.
The article added that the case may serve as a reference point for patent strategy in the technology sector, especially for smaller startups seeking to protect core technology and pursue litigation after market adoption has been established.