A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a liability lawsuit against Apple, just hours after the Cupertino, Calif. company released a firmware update claiming to cure complaints about the iMacs screen. The lawsuit, which potentially could have become a class action, claimed Apple knowingly sold the allegedly defective computers.
While the lawsuit was dismissed as being too broad, Judge Jeremy Fogel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled the claim could be resubmitted to add more detail, thus reducing the suit’s scope, reports said. Apple “internally recognizes and concedes” the defect without alerting consumers, the lawsuit alleged.
The lawsuit’s dismissal follows Apple’s release of a firmware update the company claims will “address issues that may cause image corruption or display flickering.”
Apple recently began informing resellers there could be up to a two-week wait for deliveries of its newest 27-inch iMacs. Since October, owners of the new iMacs have reported flickering screens or yellow streaks on displays.
In mid-December, Apple issued an apology for the delays, but made no mention of iMac screen defects. “The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience or delay this may cause our customers,” Apple said.
[Via TechCrunch]
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
