Following a historic $5.7 billion patent infringement verdict against Apple, Taction Technology is now seeking additional damages, interest, and ongoing royalties on future iPhone and Apple Watch sales. Here are the details.
Taction is seeking additional compensation
Late last month, a US jury found that Apple’s Taptic Engine infringed on two Taction Technology patents, awarding $5.7 billion in damages. Apple strongly contested the ruling, arguing that its technology is fundamentally different from Taction’s, and said it would appeal.
A few weeks later, Apple asked the court to overturn the verdict or order a new trial, arguing that Taction had not provided evidence to support the $5.7 billion award, leaving jurors to engage in “impermissible guesswork on a massive scale.”
Now, as seen by ReutersTaction filed a motion seeking additional damages, ongoing royalties on future iPhone and Apple Watch sales, prejudgment interest back to April 2021, and additional interest from the date of final judgment until Apple pays.
According to Taction, the jury’s award only accounted for Apple’s sales through March 2026, leaving another six months of iPhone and Apple Watch sales for which the company is now seeking compensation.
Interestingly, Taction Apple is using its own arguments from its previous patent case against Samsung to support its request for ongoing royalties.
In that case, Apple argued that royalties should not only apply to products found to infringe its patents, but also to newer models that use essentially the same technology.
Taction is now making the same argument, seeking to extend royalty payments to Apple’s latest devices, including the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro Max, Apple Watch Series 12, and Apple Watch Ultra 4, which it says “are no more than colorfully different from the infringing products.”
From the file:
Apple itself has adopted this rule. As a patent seeking ongoing royalties, Apple told the Northern District of California that “any ongoing royalties extend not only to ongoing sales of products found to be infringed by the jury, but also to products ‘not more than color different’ from them.
For ongoing payments on what Taction claims are infringing products, the company is asking the court to compel Apple to provide quarterly reports on its US sales, with royalty payments within 30 days of the end of each quarter.
Taction proposes a 7% annual rate for prejudgment interest under California law. The company is also asking the court to extend the royalty payments until September 24, 2035, when the patents in question expire.
One important caveat to keep in mind: the judge has yet to enter the jury’s verdict as a final judgment, so the original $5.7 billion award and Taction’s additional claims remain unresolved, such as Apple’s motion to overturn the verdict or secure a new trial.
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