A federal jury in San Diego ordered Apple to pay more than $5.7 billion in damages to Taction Technology. The verdict, delivered on Friday, September 26, 2026, found that Apple’s Taptic Engine infringed on two patents owned by the haptics company.
This ruling marks the largest patent infringement award ever made against Apple and ranks among the largest in U.S. history. Apple immediately issued a statement rejecting the verdict, calling the damages “entirely unsupported by the facts.” The company announced it will appeal the decision.
Taction Technology, a San Diego-based company, specializes in headphones and haptic transducers. Its technology centers around a haptic actuator developed by founder and CTO Silmon James Biggs, a former MIT research scientist. This actuator reportedly achieves 20 times the power of previous technologies.
The company’s flagship device is the Kannon, a premium over-ear gaming headset that features a built-in haptic driver in each ear, allowing users to “feel” deep bass vibrations. Taction asserted that Apple improperly “capitalized on Taction’s innovation and success” by selling iPhones and Apple Watches that utilized its vibration technology without a license.
The legal battle began when Taction filed its lawsuit against Apple in 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Taction claimed that Apple had purchased and reverse-engineered two Kannon headsets between 2017 and 2018, and further alleged that Apple’s own patent applications had cited Taction’s prior art, indicating awareness of the technology.
The case followed a complex procedural history. In August 2023, a federal judge granted Apple summary judgment, initially ruling no infringement occurred. However, in August 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed that judgment. The appeals court found the district court had abused its discretion by excluding expert testimony and imposing conditions not written into the patent claims.
Following the reversal, a jury trial began on September 14, 2026. After two days of deliberation, the seven jurors returned a verdict for Taction on September 26.
The lawsuit hinged on two U.S. patents: Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117. These patents concern vibration-based, tactile transducer technology that helps users sense a device responding to input. The jury concluded that Apple’s Taptic Engine—the component responsible for tapping vibrations in iPhones and Apple Watches—infringed two claims in the first patent and one claim in the second.
Crucially, the jury did not find that Apple’s infringement was willful. This means the damages were not subject to the tripling under U.S. patent law, which applies in cases of deliberate infringement.
Reactions from both sides were immediate. Taction’s lead counsel, Lance Yang of Quinn Emanuel, expressed satisfaction with the outcome, stating that the jury found for Taction and vindicated its patent rights.
Apple rejected the ruling. In a strongly worded statement, the company claimed its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction’s technology. Apple maintained it does not use Taction’s technology and affirmed its intent to appeal the decision.
The verdict represents a massive financial setback for Apple, becoming the largest patent infringement award against the company to date. For perspective, the amount is approximately two-and-a-half times the size of a 2021 judgment against Intel. The patents in question still have about nine years of remaining validity.
The final amount Apple pays might be reduced by a judge or lowered significantly during appeal or settlement. If the judgment is upheld, it could necessitate Apple redesigning the Taptic Engine or negotiating a licensing agreement with Taction. The case underscores the ongoing tension in the haptics space between large technology firms and smaller innovators.
