Apple asks the court to throw out Taction's $5.7 billion Taptic Engine verdict, or order a new trialApple asks the court to throw out Taction's $5.7 billion Taptic Engine verdict, or order a new trial

Apple has filed a motion asking the federal court in San Diego to overturn the $5.7 billion verdict Taction Technology won over the Taptic Engine.

A jury found on 25 September that the haptic engine in iPhones and Apple Watches infringed two Taction patents. Apple's motion, reported in detail by 9to5Mac on 13 October, asks the judge to rule that Taction is owed no damages and that Apple did not infringe, and in the alternative to order a new trial on infringement, validity and damages.

What is Apple arguing?

The motion makes three arguments, according to 9to5Mac's account of the filing.

• Damages. Taction never put a value on its patented technology. Its damages expert's analysis was excluded before trial, and the expert was later barred from testifying, so the jury was asked to award whatever royalty it thought appropriate. Apple calls the result guesswork, and points out that the award is the largest patent verdict on record by more than $3 billion.
• Infringement. Both patents describe an actuator whose output is highly damped, meaning it vibrates evenly across frequencies. Apple says the Taptic Engine peaks at certain frequencies instead, and that Taction's technical expert built a new test for the case that measured Apple's control software rather than the hardware itself.
• Validity. If Taction's reading of its patents is right, Apple argues, the claims become too unclear to be valid, because the test used at trial contradicts the one the patents describe.

Apple also cites the judge's own remark, before the award was read, that he was not sure the figure on the verdict form was what the jury meant to convey.

Is this Apple's appeal?

Not yet. Some coverage describes the filing as an appeal, but 9to5Mac reports that the verdict has not been entered as a final judgment. That makes this a post-trial motion to the trial court, which is the step that comes before an appeal. Apple said on the day of the verdict that it would appeal, and any appeal would go to the Federal Circuit, the court that revived Taction's case in 2025 after Apple had won the first round in 2023.

Our take

The damages argument is the one with weight. A royalty has to be tied to what the patented feature is worth, and Apple's account says the jury heard no expert evidence on that number at all. If that holds, $5.7 billion is hard to defend whatever the jury thought of infringement. It is also the argument litigation funder Burford Capital seemed to anticipate when it disclosed a $1.4 billion stake and warned the award would likely be cut.

The infringement argument is harder for Apple, because it asks a judge to overrule the jury on a technical question the jury has already heard. Judges grant that rarely. A reduced award or a new trial on damages alone is the outcome APPDOOK would expect, rather than the verdict disappearing entirely.

For anyone who owns an iPhone or Apple Watch, nothing changes: the motion is a fight over whether Apple infringed and what it owes. The September verdict and what it leaves open are covered in our first report. The next step is Taction's reply, then the judge's ruling, and only after that an appeal.