Apple has landed in a major patent lawsuit. A federal jury in San Diego, USA, ruled that Apple must pay more than $5.7 billion for infringing two tactile feedback patents owned by Taction Technology. The technology at issue is a low-frequency vibration tactile transducer that can be perceived through touch, and it is used in multiple iPhone and Apple Watch models. The jury found Apple liable for infringement, but it did not find willful infringement, which kept punitive damages out of the decision. Taction formally sued Apple as early as 2021. For Apple, which has deep cash reserves, the money isn’t likely to hurt in the short term—but patent wars are ongoing invisible costs: with every technical iteration, companies have to first work out the patent bills of others. A tech company’s moat is never written only in its own code.