DealsOnTheWeb Daily Deal: OneCall's Weekend Sale - 20 Great Items at Great Prices All Weekend Long
TMO Reports - Apple Sued Over iPod Battery Problems
by , 10:00 AM EST, February 10th, 2004
Apple Computer said Tuesday it is a defendant in five separate purported class-action lawsuits accusing the company of misrepresenting claims of the battery life in its popular iPod digital music player.
The details of the lawsuits were part of the company's quarterly report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The lawsuits allege violation of a California law for unfair competition and violation of California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The suits also accuse Apple of false advertising, fraudulent concealment and breach of warranty. The lawsuits seek unspecified damages and other relief.
The five plaintiffs - identified only by the last names of Chin, Keegan, Hughes, Westly and Craft - filed their suits in California in late December of last year. The plaintiffs have filed a motion to consolidate their claims in San Mateo County, Calif., but Apple is opposing the consolidation saying Santa Clara County, Calif. would be a more appropriate venue.
iPod users have been complaining about iPod battery life for some time, particularly starting with the 3rd generation of the units introduced in 2003. The issue gained some notoriety when Casey Neistat and his brother began a guerilla marketing campaign saying "iPod's unreplaceable battery lasts only 18 months." The brothers then filmed their efforts and released a video at iPodsDirtySecret.com that quickly swept the Internet. Wether or not it was related to this campaign, it was shortly thereafter that Apple began offering a battery replacement service for US$99.
In another legal action against Apple, the company said it is one of eight defendants named in a patent infringement lawsuit filed by East Texas Technology Partners on January 23 . The company said the lawsuit alleges infringement on patent 6,574,239 relating to "virtual connection of a remote unit to a server."
East Technology Partners is seeking unspecified damages and relief. The filing did not provide additional information on who the other seven defendants were named in the lawsuit.
Apple was also named as a defendant in a purported class-action lawsuit filed by a plaintiff on January 9 in California, alleging "improper collection of sales tax in transactions involving mail-in rebates." The company said the lawsuit alleges violations of a California law relating to unfair competition and seeks unspecified damages and other relief. Apple Computer said it was served the lawsuit on Jan. 21 and is beginning its investigation of the allegations. The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Observer Comments
Well, I suppose that the iPod nano law suit started the trend for suing Apple. I think that that is because Apple is getting a lot of attention recently, so a lot more people go sue Apple, and those suits get much more public attention than the other ones. And I really don't quite see the point of going to sue Apple for such things. It's a lot of trouble to go sue a big corporation like that...
Recent Headlines - Updated Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
- Tue., 6:55 PM
- User Friendly Blog by Ted Landau - Why User Interface Design Matters
- 4:30 PM
- Apple Trackpad Secrets and Technical History
- 4:05 PM
- iPodObserver - Apple: What to Bring When Buying iPhone 3G
- 3:35 PM
- Microsoft: We Have a Noisy Competitor
- 2:50 PM
- Columnist: Safari Security Fails to Learn from Past
- 2:20 PM
- iPodObserver - Services to Unlock Mobile Phones Gaining Momentum
- 1:00 PM
- Daylite 3.7.4 Adds iWork 08, Dialectic Integration
- 12:20 PM
- FoneLink 2.1 Adds Support for More Cell Phones
- 11:25 AM
- Freeway 5.1.3 Adds Chinese Support
- 11:10 AM
- iPodObserver - Rumor: Canadian Apple Stores Won't Sell iPhone 3G
- 10:35 AM
- Microsoft Aligns with Icahn for Yahoo Takeover
- 10:00 AM
- Hot Forum Topic - Is Internet Killing the Video Star?
- 8:20 AM
- iPodObserver - MobileMe Launches on July 10
- 7:55 AM
- iPodObserver - Apple: iPhone 3G Launches at 8AM Friday
- 6:00 AM
- iPO Review - BudFits
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
- OWC: Juice up your iPod w/NewerTech High Capacity Battery from $19.99 Free Installation Videos for most models. Pro Installation Service w/FedEx Shipping From $57.95 (Battery Included). - www.MacSales.com
MacBook/MacBook Pro / MacMini / iMac Intel Core2 DUO DDR2 667Mhz 4GB Kit $84, 3GB Kit $60, 2GB Kit $40 1GB $20. Click to Maximize your Macs...
Mac observers can now play Party Poker for Mac as well as Mac casino games by going to MacPokerOnline.com.
RamJet Memory: MacBook 1Gig $39, 2Gig $78, 4Gig $195! Mac Pro 2Gig $115, 4Gig $189! 500G Seagate SATA II $139! Click hereFor the latest Apple products use Ciao a comparison website to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate cell phones.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

