JAKARTA - On Wednesday, November 1, Apple Inc lost its attempt to block a mass lawsuit (class action) worth up to 2 billion US dollars (IDR 31.8 trillion) in London. The plaintiffs accused the tech giant of hiding defective batteries in millions of Apple-produced iPhones.
The lawsuit was filed by British consumer spokesman Justin Gutmann on behalf of around 24 million iPhone users in the UK.
Gutmann is seeking damages from Apple on their behalf of up to £1.6 billion (IDR 33.6 trillion) plus interest, with a claim range of £853 million (IDR 16.5 trillion).
Gutmann's lawyers argued that Apple was hiding problems with batteries in certain phone models by "throttling" software updates and installing power management tools that limited performance.
However, Apple said the lawsuit was "without merit" and vehemently denied that the batteries in iPhones were defective, except in a small number of iPhone 6s models that had been offered free battery replacements.
The company attempted to have the case thrown out of court, but the Competition Appeals Commission (CAT) said Gutmann's case could proceed in a written ruling last Wednesday.
The CAT, said there were “vaguenesses and non-specificities” in the Gutmann case that needed to be addressed before trial. They also said Gutmann's litigation funding arrangements may need to be changed, following a Supreme Court decision that even in July declared many such agreements illegal.
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Gutmann said in a statement that the ruling is "a major step toward consumer justice."
"We have never - and will never - do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or damage the user experience to encourage customer updates," said an Apple spokesperson as quoted by VOI from Reuters.
The certification of Gutmann's case adds to the number of high-dollar mass lawsuits currently being filed in London, following a decision in July to allow claims against major banks for alleged foreign exchange counterfeiting.
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