Enraged Android Users Take Apple To Federal Court Over Discarded Text Messages
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, ruled that Apple must face a U.S. federal lawsuit related to iMessage and its interception of SMS text messages when users switch from an iPhone handset to a phone on another platform, such as Google's Android operating system. In such cases, if the user didn't disable iMessage before making the switch, text messages would never reach their new phone.
The plaintiff, Adrienne Moore, is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages, Reuters reports. In the suit, Moore claims that by intercepting her text messages, iMessage and Apple ultimately interfered with her contract with Verizon Wireless for wireless service after switching earlier this year from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung Galaxy S5.
Switching from an iPhone to an Android device? Be sure to deactivate iMessage first.
"Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship," Judge Koh wrote in her judgement.
Judge Koh dismissed a few claims related to another consumer protection law, but did clear the way for Moore to file a federal lawsuit in an attempt to show that Apple ran afoul of a California unfair competition law.
As far as Apple is concerned, "the law does not provide remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should." In other words, Apple never said that its iMessage services and Messages application would be able to detect when iPhone users switched to other platforms, therefore it's the customers responsibility to take the necessary steps beforehand.
The plaintiff, Adrienne Moore, is seeking class-action status and unspecified damages, Reuters reports. In the suit, Moore claims that by intercepting her text messages, iMessage and Apple ultimately interfered with her contract with Verizon Wireless for wireless service after switching earlier this year from an iPhone 4 to a Samsung Galaxy S5.
Switching from an iPhone to an Android device? Be sure to deactivate iMessage first.
"Plaintiff does not have to allege an absolute right to receive every text message in order to allege that Apple's intentional acts have caused an actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship," Judge Koh wrote in her judgement.
Judge Koh dismissed a few claims related to another consumer protection law, but did clear the way for Moore to file a federal lawsuit in an attempt to show that Apple ran afoul of a California unfair competition law.
As far as Apple is concerned, "the law does not provide remedy when, as here, technology simply does not function as plaintiff subjectively believes it should." In other words, Apple never said that its iMessage services and Messages application would be able to detect when iPhone users switched to other platforms, therefore it's the customers responsibility to take the necessary steps beforehand.
