[IP] class-action lawsuit against Apple slips-in under Republican wire
------ Forwarded Message
From: Jim Warren <jwarren@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 08:06:55 -0800
To: "<Dave Farber: ;>"
Subject: class-action lawsuit against Apple slips-in under Republican wire
Would good ol', friendly, considerate, benevolent, generous Steve
Jobs ever condone such awful things as these?! ;-) --jim
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/02/18/apple_dealers_customers_legal/
Customers, resellers bite Apple back
By By Danny Bradbury
Published Friday 18th February 2005 17:41 GMT
Three US legal firms filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against
Apple yesterday, accusing it of scamming customers with shorter
warranty periods and passing old kit off as new.
The suit, filed in San Francisco on Thursday (Feb 17), represents
consumers and resellers in two separate subclasses.
The consumer suit accuses Apple of selling old computers as if they
were new. It also alleges that Apple has been deliberately shortening
warranty periods on its computers, beginning them from the date of
shipment to the reseller rather than the date of customer purchase.
Resellers in the suit are accusing the company of breaching
confidentiality. Apple is using resellers' customer lists to target
new customers for its own retail network of Apple stores which it
began rolling out in 2001, says David Franklin, a partner at Franklin
and Franklin, one of the law firms: "They're stealing customers that
would otherwise be more than happy to go to the normal resellers."
...
There are currently three individuals acting as representatives for
the consumer class, and two for the reseller class, but the
class-action lawsuit applies retrospectively to all customers and
resellers dealing with Apple since January 1, 1995 who have been
adversely affected. Franklin hopes that it will help resellers who
have been afraid to speak out by representing them implicitly.
"According to the agreement Apple can de-authorise them as a dealer
at any time for any reason, so many dealers are petrified to sue."
The suit now has to be certified by the court before beginning the
long road to a trial. If the suit succeeds, Franklin hopes that Apple
may be precluded from engaging in similar future activities, and
could also be liable to compensate users for the price difference
between new and old machines. Apple was not available for comment.
Tom Santos, an Apple reseller who closed his store in January, is
acting as an expert adviser to Franklin. Santos is already pursuing
an individual lawsuit against Apple that overlapped slightly with the
class-action suit.
The class action suit was slipped through under the wire - today
(February 18), President Bush signs the Class Action Bill. It imposes
strict limits on class action lawsuits, forcing many of them to be
filed in federal court, which many believe is less sympathetic to
such claims. It also restricts lawyers' fees.
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