A US jury has ruled that Apple infringed two patents held by audio firm Taction Technology relating to haptic vibration systems used in devices like the iPhone and Apple Watch. The jury awarded Taction $5.7bn in damages after the company sued Apple in 2021 over the technology, which powers vibration feedback for actions such as messages and button presses. Apple says it will appeal, arguing its Taptic Engine differs fundamentally from Taction's patented system.
bbc.co.uk
· 2026-09-28
A federal jury in San Diego ruled that Apple's Taptic Engine, used in iPhones and Apple Watches, infringed two patents held by haptics company Taction. The jury awarded Taction over $5.7 billion in damages, finding infringement on two claims in one patent and one in another, though it did not find the infringement willful. Apple says it plans to appeal.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-26
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White certified a class of banks and credit unions that issued Apple Pay-enabled cards and paid transaction fees to Apple, allowing them to jointly pursue a 2022 lawsuit. The judge also rejected Apple's bid to strike expert testimony plaintiffs say demonstrates Apple's monopoly over mobile wallets. The suit claims Apple has collected up to $1 billion a year by requiring card issuers to pay 0.15% on credit transactions and half a cent on debit transactions while blocking rival wallets from the iPhone's NFC chip.
macrumors.com
· 2026-09-26
A jury in New Mexico ruled that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act, finding 26 of 29 examined statements about user data protections were misleading, amounting to more than 43 million violations based on affected users. The case, brought by the state attorney general in 2021, also concerned Meta's response to the 2013 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which data from tens of millions of Facebook users was harvested via a personality-quiz app and used for targeted political ads in 2016.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-26
A jury in Santa Fe ruled Facebook deceived users about privacy protections after a third-party quiz harvested data from roughly 87 million profiles and sold it to Cambridge Analytica. Jurors also found Facebook misled the public about subsequent investigations into data brokers, tallying more than 2 million violations affecting New Mexico's population. A judge will now decide penalties, with state attorneys seeking the maximum $5,000 per violation.
cbsnews.com
· 2026-09-26
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White has certified a class-action lawsuit allowing payment card issuers to jointly sue Apple over fees charged for Apple Pay transactions. The suit, backed by law firm Hagens Berman, alleges Apple collects roughly $1 billion annually by charging 0.15% on credit transactions and 0.5 cents on debit transactions, while blocking rivals from building competing contactless payment systems on iOS. The judge also rejected Apple's bid to exclude expert testimony supporting claims of Apple's monopoly power in mobile wallets.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-25
A New Mexico jury ruled that Meta violated the state's Unfair Practices Act, finding it misled residents about privacy protections and how it handled misinformation. The case stemmed from a 2021 lawsuit tied to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which Facebook user data was harvested and used for political ad targeting during the 2016 election. A judge has not yet determined the penalty Meta will face.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-25
A coalition including Free Press, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Committee for the First Amendment filed a court brief arguing that California's settlement with Paramount Skydance over its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery offers the public 'virtually nothing.' The filing asks Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who had earlier found the deal likely to substantially reduce competition, to reject the settlement that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and eleven other states agreed to this week. The League of United Latin American Citizens raised similar objections in a separate filing.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-09-25
New York filed a lawsuit against Polymarket in state court, alleging the platform runs unlicensed gambling and asking a judge to block it from operating in the state. The state is seeking fines and restitution for users, arguing Polymarket never obtained a required gaming license. Polymarket's chief legal officer said the company will fight the claims and remain in New York.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-25
A US District Court awarded Nintendo $4.5 million in damages against James Williams, known online as Archbox, after he failed to respond to the company's lawsuit. Nintendo had accused Williams of running Pirate Shops and using the 190,000-member r/SwitchPirates subreddit to direct users to pirated game downloads and circumvention tools. Judge Lauren King granted the default judgment on September 23, also issuing a permanent injunction requiring Williams to shut down any related shops and stop distributing pirated titles.
techspot.com
· 2026-09-25
Qualcomm announced it has renewed its global patent licensing agreement with Apple, with the new terms taking effect April 1, 2027. The current agreement, originally signed in 2019 after the two companies settled years of litigation, had been extended once before and was due to expire in March 2027.
9to5mac.com
· 2026-09-24
CNET details customization settings inside ChatGPT, Google Gemini and Claude AI that let users permanently adjust how the assistants respond, rather than repeatedly tweaking prompts. These options, found under menus like 'personalization' or 'personal intelligence,' allow control over things such as warmth, emoji use and how the tool addresses the user. ChatGPT uses toggle-based settings while Gemini's Personal Intelligence takes a more open-ended approach.
cnet.com
· 2026-09-24
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