Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
Judge Rules in Favor of Apple in App Privacy Class Action Lawsuit
By Dominic Rivera
A federal judge ruled that a class action lawsuit cannot hold Apple responsible for apps on the iPhone and iPad that sold their users’ data to advertisers. The judge granted summary judgment and dismissed the multidistrict litigation, saying the plaintiffs could not show they relied on Apple’s alleged misrepresentations and were harmed by them.
“Critically, none of the plaintiffs presents evidence that he or she even saw, let alone read and relied upon, the alleged misrepresentations contained in the Apple Privacy Policies, SLAs, or App Store Terms and Conditions, either prior to purchasing his or her iPhone, or at any time thereafter,” U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh stated in her Nov. 27 ruling.
The ruling puts to rest 20 class action lawsuits alleging that Apple approved apps for the iPhones and iPads that intercepted personal information and tracked users’ habits without authorization. The cases were eventually consolidated to form the multidistrict litigation: In Re: Apple, Inc. iPhone/iPad Application Consumer Privacy Litigation. The class claims that apps such as Dictionary.com, Pandora, the Weather Channel and Backflip pass confidential data to third-party ad networks.
The judge also said the claims brought forward by plaintiffs cannot support their claim of fraud because they were not able to “set forth specific facts in support of standing.”
“Plaintiffs each allude to a vague ‘understanding’ regarding Apple’s privacy policies without providing any evidence whatsoever concerning the basis for this understanding,” the judge said.
The judge also noted that each of the plaintiffs had an iTunes account which required them to agree first to Apple’s privacy policy. However, it “does not establish, standing alone, that plaintiffs actually read the alleged misrepresentations contained in that privacy policy, let alone that these misrepresentations subsequently formed the basis for plaintiffs’ ‘understanding’ regarding Apple’s privacy policies,” the judge ruled.
Because of this, Judge Koh ruled that the plaintiffs have no case against Apple and dismissed the consolidated class action lawsuit.
The Apple App Tracking Class Action Lawsuit case is In Re: Apple, Inc. iPhone/iPad Application Consumer Privacy Litigation, Case No. 11-md-02250, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Jose.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
