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Apple DRM Lawsuit Might Be Dismissed: Plaintiffs Didn't Own Affected iPods

Posted by timothy on from the none-of-your-business dept.

UnknowingFool writes The lawsuit involving Apple and iTunes DRM may be thrown out because the plaintiffs did not own the iPods for which they are suing. The lawsuit covers iPods for the time period between September of 2006 and March of 2009. When Apple checked the serial numbers of the iPods of the plaintiffs, it appears they were not manufactured during this time. One plaintiff did purchase an iPod in 2005 and in 2010 and has withdrawn from the suit. The second plaintiff's iPod was manufactured in July 2009 but claims purchasing another iPod in 2008. Since the two plaintiffs were the only ones in the suit, the case may be dismissed for lack of standing.

5 of 141 comments (clear)

  1. Lawyers not doing their homework by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I guess the thrill of big fees in a class-action suit made them forget to do some elementary checking.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  2. Not unexpected. by pushing-robot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've observed that flaws in Apple products seem to most affect those who do not use Apple products.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re:Not unexpected. by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Apple replaced my HDD 5 years after warranty expired on my Mac because there was a bad batch of HDDs. They did the same with the nVidia failures that affected many OEMs.

      Apple told all owners of the Revision 1 B&W G3 Power Macintosh (ye olde bondi blue desktop) that if they experienced data corruption with ATA disks, that they had two choices. They could degrade performance by switching their disk to PIO mode with the $70 FWB toolkit, or they could buy a $99 ATA card ($20 for the same card with PC roms) and move their devices to the new controller. Rather than offer a simple software patch (let alone a logic board replacement, which was the appropriate remedy) you actually had to spend money because Apple screwed up. When they folded the Techinfo Library into the Knowledge Base, they managed to incorporate articles both older and newer than the one in which they gave this advice, but they went ahead and just dropped that one in an attempt to hide their poor customer support.

      It's nice that you had better luck. Lots of other people have. But Apple has also acted completely unacceptably in the past, not just the B&W G3 but also the Cube, leaking G5s, flaky Macintosh Portables with shaky compatibility way way back in the day... Lots of this stuff just went unacknowledged or, once acknowleged, went unremedied.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Not unexpected. by Solandri · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, factually untrue. Industry statistics show Apple products to be consistently the most dependable you can buy.

      That's a myth. It's only true if you rely on subjective surveys which are vulnerable to self-bias. Owners of Apple products basically like to believe their products are more reliable, so report them as such. Same reason BMW and Mercedes owners rate their vehicles so highly, when the repair rates show them to be average or below average in dependability.

      If you use objective data like extended warranty insurance claim rates or repair rates at a computer repair shop, while Apple is top tier, they are hardly the best. (Their repair rates are probably biased low too, because a larger percentage of Mac owners first think to take their Macbook to an Apple store, rather than a generic computer repair store.)

      http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2014-q3.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2014-q2.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2014.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2013-q3.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2013-q2.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2013-q1.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2012-q3.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2012-q2.aspx
      http://www.rescuecom.com/news-press-releases/computer-reliability-report-2012.aspx

      And if you don't yet know, Apple doesn't make the Macbooks. They're made by Quanta. Quanta is an ODM - original design manufacturer. Like an OEM except they also design the product. Quanta also happens to make most of HP's laptops. The vast majority of laptops sold are made by ODMs, not the brand names you see on the box. While the brand name exhibits some executive control over acceptable quality control criteria, it's really the ODM which determines build quality.

  3. The best by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Way to sink your case is to lie.

    If your hatred of Apple is so white hot,

    If your hatred of Apple gets you foaming so bad at the mouth,

    that you would lie, that it is okay to do

    the fault's not with Apple

    The fault lies with you

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.