Lawsuit around Apple's first iPhone dismissed from federal court
Although the jury (and judge) might still be out on a later class action suit targeting Apple's newer iPhone 3G, a US judge has now ruled that Apple did not engage in "deceptive" practices concerning the original iPhone.
With a class action action around Apple's newer iPhone 3G still pending, a US judge has now thrown out a different lawsuit that had charged Apple with engaging in deception around batteries in the original iPhone.
While a suit filed this past August claimed that the iPhone 3G doesn't live up to promises of being "twice as fast for half the price," the earlier suit accused Apple of committing consumer fraud by allegedly failing to tell customers about the real life span of the first iPhone's batteries.
Filed by Jose Trujillo in July, 2007 in Illinois State Court, the battery lawsuit cited the original iPhone batteries as well as the $86 replacement cost.
After the case was moved to federal court, a US district judge in Chicago granted Apple's request for dismissal late last week.
"Apple disclosed on the outside of the iPhone package that the battery has 'limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by Apple service provider,'" the judge wrote in his opinion. "Under the circumstances, no reasonable jury could find that deception occurred."
The class-action lawsuit regarding the more recent iPhone 3G -- filed in US District Court in southern Alabama by Jessica Alena Smith -- charges that the 3G is "defective," and that Smith experienced an Internet connection that was slower than expected and advertised.
"In or around the Summer of 2008, Apple began marketing and put out for consumption the Defective iPhone 3G," according to a copy of the iPhone 3G complaint obtained by BetaNews. "The release for consumption of the Defective iPhone 3G was preceded and followed by an aggressive marketing campaign, which included radio, television, and paper advertisements. One could barely turn on the television without hearing that the new iPhone 3G was 'twice as fast for half the price.'"
Meanwhile, Apple has previously settled two separate lawsuits in the US and Canada alleging that batteries in the first three generations of iPods were faulty.