Apple reaches settlement, licensing agreement with Immersion following iPhone haptic feedback lawsuits

Immersion has announced it has made a deal with Apple, entering into a settlement with the iPhone producer as well as setting up licensing agreements for its haptic feedback technology, an arrangement that is extremely likely to halt all of Immersion's current patent infringement lawsuits against Apple.

The brief statement from Immersion released on Monday confirms an agreement between it and Apple, described as a "Global Settlement" that will affect the two companies' relationship around the world. As the terms of the arrangement are kept confidential, it is unknown what level of financial impact it will have for each firm.

The confidential nature also means there are no details surrounding what Apple has gained from its licensing agreement. While Immersion touts itself as having more than 2,600 issued or pending patents, it is impossible to tell if Apple licensed all, a portion, or a few specific patents from Immersion's IP catalog.

Before the settlement and licensing agreement deal, Immersion was going after Apple and AT&T over the use of its haptic feedback IP in mobile devices. In a U.S. International Trade Commission complaint and a lawsuit filed in a Delaware district court in February 2016, Immersion alleged Apple's iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, and Apple Watch product lines infringed on three of its haptic feedback patents.

In May of the same year, a second lawsuit in the same District of Delaware court made the claim Apple had knowingly infringed on four patents in the iPhone 6s and models of the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. In June, the ITC confirmed it would launch an investigation into Immersion's claims.

Depending on Apple's licensing with Immersion, it is highly probable that all legal action between the companies over the patents will end in the near future, including the ITC complaint.

The lawsuits are likely to have been triggered by the expanded use of haptic feedback in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, with the introduction of 3D Touch in 2015. Using a force-sensitive display and the Taptic Engine linear vibratory motor, Apple had created a new type of GUI layer in iOS, with 3D Touch providing z-axis gestures such as Peek and Pop, Quick Actions, and cross-app content previews, all with contextual vibration-based feedback.

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9 Comments

robin huber 4025 comments · 22 Years

About 6 years ago

Frankly, these gimmicky features could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss them. As long as my phone vibrates instead of ringing when I mute it, that’s enough.

rob53 3307 comments · 13 Years

robin huber said:

Frankly, these gimmicky features could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss them. As long as my phone vibrates instead of ringing when I mute it, that’s enough.

The vibrating patent doesn't belong to Apple, even though a vibrator is obvious to everyone, so Apple would still have to pay someone so your phone vibrates instead of ringing. That's the problem with the patent system, absolutely every tiny thing gets patented even when there's no reason for it.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

robin huber said:

Frankly, these gimmicky features could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss them. As long as my phone vibrates instead of ringing when I mute it, that’s enough.

I don't see how making pressing a virtual button feel like a physical button is gimmicky. This also goes to Accessibility since haptics can be used for those who are visually impaired, not to mentioned that it makes for a better HW to not have the MBP trackpad be a hinged panel that wears out or gets crumbs under it.

williamh 1045 comments · 13 Years

rob53 said:

robin huber said:

Frankly, these gimmicky features could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss them. As long as my phone vibrates instead of ringing when I mute it, that’s enough.

The vibrating patent doesn't belong to Apple, even though a vibrator is obvious to everyone, so Apple would still have to pay someone so your phone vibrates instead of ringing. That's the problem with the patent system, absolutely every tiny thing gets patented even when there's no reason for it.

The haptic feedback on the non-mechanical "buttons" is kind of important. I wonder if someone has the patent on phones ringing? :#

tjwolf 423 comments · 12 Years

Soli said:

robin huber said:

Frankly, these gimmicky features could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn’t miss them. As long as my phone vibrates instead of ringing when I mute it, that’s enough.

I don't see how making pressing a virtual button feel like a physical button is gimmicky. This also goes to Accessibility since haptics can be used for those who are visually impaired, not to mentioned that it makes for a better HW to not have the MBP trackpad be a hinged panel that wears out or gets crumbs under it.

The lawsuit isn't about making a virtual button feel like a physical one by using haptics. The article says that the patent likely has to do with 3D-Touch because the suit covers 6s and beyond. 3D Touch, as currently implemented by Apple, stinks. Not the feature itself - that is really cool/useful - but the problem is that hardly anyone ever uses it because (a) Apple hasn't seen it fit to identify the UI elements that have 3D Touch capability and (b) 3D Touch still isn't available across all its iOS devices.

I mean, come on, Apple! UI Design 101 here! Do you expect people to "deep press" everything on the screen to try and figure out what has that feature???