Jury Holds Apple Liable for $5.7 Billion in Haptic Feedback Patent Lawsuit

A jury in the federal court for the Southern District of California issued a $5.7 billion verdict in favor of Taction Technology, after finding that Apple infringed two patents related to haptic feedback technology through its Taptic Engine platform, according to a specialized legal publication. The ruling is considered one of the largest in patent cases in terms of value.

The publication noted that the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals had previously overturned an initial ruling in favor of Apple and remanded the case to the lower court due to the exclusion of expert testimony from the trial proceedings. This means the current verdict came after a reconsideration of evidence that had been excluded in the first round.

The same source indicates that Burford Capital, which finances lawsuits, could receive $1.4 billion under a funding agreement linked to this case. This reflects the growing role of litigation funding firms in major patent cases, where they bear litigation costs in exchange for a share of any awarded compensation.

The same newsletter also noted that the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit released a decision upholding Thomson Reuters' victory over ROSS Intelligence in a dispute concerning the fair use defense in training artificial intelligence models. No decision has yet been issued by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in the Apple case, and both parties are likely to appeal the ruling before it.

What do these terms mean?

Patent: An exclusive right granted by law to an inventor for an invention for a specified period. Haptic feedback: Technology that makes a device vibrate in response to touch. Jury: A group of citizens that decides the facts of a case and issues a verdict. Fair use: An exception in copyright law that permits limited use of protected material without permission. Litigation funding: An agreement in which a party finances the costs of a lawsuit in exchange for a share of the compensation.