Apple Seeks Retrial of Jury Verdict Over Haptic Patent Damages Before First-Instance Ruling
IT DAILY ·
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Apple filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to void or retry a $5.7 billion jury damages verdict.
Apple argued that there was insufficient evidence to support the damages calculation and that there were problems with the technical verification of the patent infringement finding.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Taction Technology in 2021, and the jury found that Apple's Taptic Engine infringed two patents.
Image made with AI. According to Reuters and other foreign media reports, Apple has moved in court over a $5.7 billion jury damages verdict in a patent lawsuit involving haptic feedback technology used in the iPhone and Apple Watch. The report came out on the 14th, local time.
Apple filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California seeking to void the jury verdict or obtain a new trial. The opposing company is Taction Technology. Apple asked the court to void or alter the $5.7 billion damages verdict, arguing that there was insufficient evidence to support the damages calculation. It also argued that there were problems with the technical verification related to the patent infringement finding.
Apple first sought to have the verdict voided or amended. It then conditionally asked the court, if it did not accept that request and the verdict was not overturned, to grant a retrial on patent infringement, patent validity and damages.
The case began with a patent infringement lawsuit filed by San Diego-based haptic technology company Taction Technology against Apple in 2021. Taction claimed that Apple's Taptic Engine, the haptic feedback system built into the iPhone and Apple Watch, infringed its haptic patents related to vibration technology. Taction also claimed that its technology was used in headphones and gaming headsets, and that Apple used the technology without authorization.
The U.S. jury found that Apple's Taptic Engine infringed two of Taction's patents. The patents at issue were U.S. Patent Nos. 10,659,885 and 10,820,117. The technology covered by the two patents was haptic conversion technology that allows device vibrations to be perceived by users as having certain characteristics.
The U.S. jury awarded $5,721,961,750 in damages against Apple. It was one of the largest damages verdicts in the history of U.S. patent litigation.
Apple is strongly pushing back against the verdict. Apple said its Taptic Engine is fundamentally different from Taction's patented technology and stated that the Taptic Engine did not use Taction's technology.
Apple is challenging not only the verdict itself but also the method used to calculate damages. One of the key issues Apple raised is the damages calculation method, and it argued that there was a lack of actual evidence supporting the jury's damages award. It also said Taction failed to present concrete materials proving the economic value of the patented technology and that the basis for a reasonable patent royalty calculation was insufficient. In addition, Apple said the award was excessive because it did not reflect the actual contribution of the patented technology or the damages caused by the infringement.
The technical verification method also became a point of dispute. Apple argued that the test method used by Taction's expert was insufficient to evaluate the patent-specific technical requirements needed to prove infringement. It added that this verification method alone could not establish whether the Taptic Engine met the patent's core requirements. It remains uncertain whether the court will ultimately accept this.
The case turned in Apple's favor in 2023. At the time, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California found that Apple did not infringe the patents, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit later dismissed the case and ordered a retrial, allowing the lawsuit to continue. That led to the jury's massive damages verdict, and the jury found both infringement and damages.
Now that Apple has filed its post-verdict motion, attention is on whether the court's subsequent ruling will change. It is still unclear whether the $5.7 billion will be finalized, and if a retrial is granted, the outcome could change, leaving the current result uncertain.
Source: IT DAILY · Jo Min-soo
Original: https://www.itdaily.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=242206
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Source: IT DAILY
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