A federal jury in San Diego ruled on Friday that Apple (AAPL) infringed patents held by Taction Technology and must pay more than $5.7 billion in damages.
The patents at issue involve vibration-related technology used in iPhone and Apple Watch products.
After two days of part-time deliberations, the jury at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found that Apple (AAPL) infringed the claims of two Taction haptic feedback patents (U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117), though the infringement was not willful.
Evidence disclosed during the discovery phase revealed that Taction's litigation in this case was funded by Gronostaj Investments LLC and Kenosha Investments LP, with the latter identified in a separate lawsuit as an indirect subsidiary of Burford Capital Ltd.
The litigation was fiercely contested, with Apple (AAPL) attempting to expose the connection between Taction and the large litigation financing firm.
Taction sued Apple (AAPL) in 2021 for patent infringement, with both patents describing "haptic transducers capable of producing low-frequency vibrations perceptible through touch."
In 2023, Apple (AAPL) successfully persuaded a judge to dismiss the case.
However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit revived the lawsuit last year, ruling that an unwritten requirement relied upon in dismissing the case had improperly deprived Taction of the right to use portions of expert testimony.
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP served as Taction's counsel.
Apple's (AAPL) legal representation included Fish & Richardson, Orrick, Walker Stevens Cannon, and Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP.
Kenosha and Gronostaj were represented by Singer Cashman LLP.
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