Apple Hit With $5 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Over eBooks Availability

[MacRumors]

A lawsuit filed against Apple in California this week accuses the company of violating the state's false advertising law and other consumer laws, by intentionally misleading customers into thinking that they are purchasing digital e-books from the Apple Books app in perpetuity, when instead they are only purchasing revokable licenses to the books.

The proposed class action complaint explains that Apple is required to pull a digital book or audiobook from the Apple Books app if and when it loses a license to that content, resulting in the content no longer being available in the app's store. As a result, the complaint alleges that some customers have unexpectedly found that digital books they previously purchased were no longer available to re-download, despite having paid for them. Apple removes books without warning, and without providing refunds, the complaint adds.

As noted in the complaint, the purchase screen in the Apple Books app does not include a link to any terms of service or licensing information. However, in order to set up and use an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or other Apple device, users are required to agree to Apple's various software license agreements, which all state the following:

By using this software in connection with an Apple Account, or other Apple Services, you agree to the applicable terms of service, such as the latest Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions […]

In the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, Apple states the following:

Purchased Content will generally remain available for you to download, redownload, or otherwise access from Apple. Though it is unlikely, subsequent to your purchase, Content may be removed from the Services and become unavailable for further download or access from Apple (for instance, because Apple loses its right from the Content provider to make it available). To ensure your ability to continue enjoying Content, we encourage you to download all purchased Content to a device in your possession and to back it up.

The lawsuit, Morehouse et al v. Apple, Inc., was filed in a U.S. district court in San Jose on Tuesday. The plaintiffs are seeking up to $5 billion in damages, with the proposed class being all individuals who purchased a digital book or audiobook from the Apple Books store within the to-be-determined class period. A judge has yet to be assigned to the case, and it remains to be seen if the class action lawsuit is certified and proceeds to trial.

The complaint was filed by law firm Siri & Glimstad LLP.

Article Link: Apple Hit With $5 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Over eBooks Availability

 

[Robin Bonathan]

$5 billion, having laugh !

 

[Aquaporin]

This happened to me with Amazon music. I had purchased multiple MP3 albums over the years that disappeared because Amazon lost the license to sell them so I could not redownload them even though I had purchased them.

I did not realize this could be a thing for books too!!

 

[DocMultimedia]

In other words, if I agree to terms and conditions they don't apply. Yeesh. Lawyers want money. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

[neuropsychguy]

"The lawsuit, Morehouse et al v. Apple, Inc., was filed in a U.S. district court in San Jose on Tuesday."

So it was an April Fools' joke/prank!

I'm not saying there is no problem with the idea and implementations of licensing digital materials, but $5 billion is not realistic. This suit will not go very far.

 

[iObama]

This is why I buy physical copies of things and obtain digital ones.

 

[Dr McKay]

Apple should stop selling to the USA! Clearly they’re so broke the only way they can make money is by robbing American companies!

 

[NMBob]

Don't keep your stuff on other peoples' bookshelves.

 

[sw1tcher]

This happened to me with Amazon music. I had purchased multiple MP3 albums over the years that disappeared because Amazon lost the license to sell them so I could not redownload them even though I had purchased them.

I did not realize this could be a thing for books too!!

This can happen to all digital media. Music, Books, and Movies/TV Shows. If you don't have it physically in your hands, it can be taken away from you. If you buy it in digital format, back it up.

PlayStation is removing hundreds of Discovery shows that users already purchased

PlayStation users who bought any of the hundreds of listed Discovery programs won't be able to access the content as of December 31, Sony said.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[cale508]

It's ironic that the law firm that sued them has Siri in their name.

 

[switz]

Had a major book set (Harry Potter set) I had purchased in the Apple Book store disappear from all my computers with no notice. The author got her royalties from the purchase, but I lost the ability to read what I had access to. Sucks big time.

 

[goodcow]

In other words, if I agree to terms and conditions they don't apply. Yeesh. Lawyers want money. Nothing more, nothing less.

Nobody is reading through dense, legalistic terms and conditions, yourself included.

 

[BHarris_108]

It's ironic that the law firm that sued them has Siri in their name.

You beat me to it! 😆 I thought that was pretty ironic too, and funny. Apple's having lots of trouble with Siri lately 😎

 

[S.B.G]

These types of business practices, regardless of the company name, are all leading us into a mindset of 'you will own nothing and like it.'

 

[somnolentsurfer]

I want my copy of Winnie the Pooh back.

 

[Kar98]

If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.

 

[TheLinkster]

It's ironic that the law firm that sued them has Siri in their name.

Was going to say the same thing.

 

[TheLinkster]

This is an issue of clicking through the TOS or T's and C's without reading them. Ignorance is not a reason to file a lawsuit.

 

[s004aws]

Not saying I like the "You shall own nothing, live in a pod, eat bugs, and be happy" direction we're headed in but... Really? Did these people not read the million pages of terms when they activated their device? Have they not been living under a rock the last 20 years to understand this is exactly how digital services - Virtually all of them - Operate? Sucks for them they lost "their" eBooks - But those were never their books to begin with. Consider it a lesson learned, next time pay for a book printed on a dead tree and audio/video content etched into vinyl or burned to a shiny frisbee.

 

[ELman]

This happened to me with Amazon music. I had purchased multiple MP3 albums over the years that disappeared because Amazon lost the license to sell them so I could not redownload them even though I had purchased them.

I did not realize this could be a thing for books too!!

Amazon makes it very clear now that when purchasing a Kindle e-book that you are purchasing a license only. They also recently took away the ability that allows you to download your purchased items to a computer.

 

[sw1tcher]

If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.

Correct. Piracy isn't stealing. It's copyright infringement. There's a difference.

 

[Naraxus]

This will get laughed right out of court and deservedly so

 

[cjboffoli97]

It's ironic that the law firm that sued them has Siri in their name.

That's not irony. It's coincidence.

 

[mashdots]

I have a friend who has lost access to movies he purchased through the iTunes Store, so this doesn't surprise me. One of the reasons I've made more of an effort to own and backup content I've purchased.

 

[mcled53]

I was ripped off by this situation. I was able to recover a book because it was physically on my Mac and I could install onto my iPad by connecting the two with a cable. However, it took an hour on the phone to Apple to figure this out. I since copy all ebooks I buy from Apple to PDF.