Apple Settles iPod Class Action Suits
May 12, 2008 | by Geoff Duncan
Apple has agreed to settle a pair of Canadian class action lawsuits that charged Apple misled consumers about battery life in its portable music players.
Apple has agreed to settle (PDF) a pair of class action lawsuits brought against it in Canada by Inez Lenzi and Bradley Waddell that accused the company of misleading consumers about the battery life of its famous iPod portable media players. Under terms of the settlement, customers who bought particular iPods in Canada on or before June 24, 2004, will be eligible for $45 CDN credit in the Apple Canada online store. The suits alleged Apple misled consumers by claiming the iPods were capable of 8 to 10 hours of continuous music playback; however, as users recharged their iPods, the battery life declined over time, in some cases holding a charge good only for two or three hours of music playback. The settlement follows along the lines of a separate U.S. class action lawsuit the company settled in 2005 over Apple iPod battery life; in that settlement, Apple agreed to give customers $50 in store credit or $25 cash if the batteries in certain early iPods dropped below particular levels. Store credits received under the class action settlement must be used within 12 months.
Post Your Comment...Comments
Jason Howard on May 12th, 2008 at 9:22 AM:
Ya, sounds a bit ridiculous. It's pretty common knowledge that batteries lose a bit of battery capacity each time they are charged. I'm pretty surprised Apple didn't include a disclaimer in it's documentation about it though.
They still get a win out of this though, since it's not a cash settlement, but rather gift certificates.
Diane Lu on May 12th, 2008 at 9:30 AM:
Everyone already knows the nature of a battery is to slowly die, especially over time. This lawsuit is ridiculous.
Lefty G. on May 12th, 2008 at 9:37 AM:
I bet Apply did include some sort of disclaimer, but these guys looked for a loophole and when they found it, had nothing better to do with their time. It's the new american dream, win a meaningless case against big corporate, inspite of the time it takes a court to go thru all the proceedings etc. Then what did you get out of it? A giftcard. Well done. And you wonder why it takes to long for real issues to be seen in court? Because of all the dumb stuff like this.
Manhy on May 12th, 2008 at 11:49 AM:
I love it, Apple is so brilliant, now people will go into the store to collect their rebate, then spend more money then even anticipated on their new ipods or software etc. making Apple even more money.
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David Y. on May 12th, 2008 at 9:13 AM:
Anyone else think these lawsuits are ridiculous? Also, is this for the older iPods or the new ones?