Class action monopoly lawsuit against Apple and AT&T gets okay from federal judge

By on Jul 12, 2010 at 7:51 AM
Legal July 12, 2010

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The AP reports that a California federal judge has given the go-ahead to a monopoly class action lawsuit, against both Apple and AT&T, over several aspects of the iPhone. The suit claims that Apple, in making AT&T its exclusive partner, drove up prices and stifled competition in the smartphone market. The suit seeks to, “keep Apple from selling locked iPhones in the U.S. and from determining what iPhone programs people can install.” Naturally, the suit also seeks “damages to cover legal fees and other costs.” Apple has yet to release in an official statement in regards to the suit, but did say that it had not hurt competition. Unlocked iPhones and the ability to install applications from third party sources (Cydia!) sound pretty good to us.

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  • Eric

    I think the only legitimate argument they have is that when you cancel your AT&T service, after you have been with them for two years, that you cannot take your phone and activate it on TMO (even if you were willing to do so w/o 3G service) unless you jailbreak it. You should be able to do what you want with your phone after you have fullfilled the terms of your contract.

    • Frank

      But you really can – the warrantee is up at that point and it’s your’s so if you “jailbreak it” there’s really no recourse on AT&T or Apples part.

      • iFlossâ„¢

        I totally agree with you frank. Apple isn’t stupid they know what they’re doing in their legal department and even though it seems like they may have some valid arguments they could sign off third-party apps as malicious towards their OS which is licensed therefore developers for third party apps would be breaking the law on their software considering it is after all licensed to us.

        The competition part I disagree with because it actually encouraged competition.

        The iPhone was at a reasonable price when you consider the on board memory that came preinstalled in comparison to how much a MicroSD card would cost you.

        They wanna make money but I don’t see them winning anything from it when you sit down and analyze the situation. I’m far from an Apple fan boy (Windows Fan boy) but the truth is they’re getting picked on by everyone and their family.

      • iFlossâ„¢

        how much a MicroSD card would cost you when the phone was released*

      • Dave

        I’m not sure where have you been living but apple charges $100 more for have 8GB more cpacity for the iphone and that is huge over charge considering how cheap memory are now I have an iphone 3GS and i like it, but apple does huge over charges for very simple cheap stuff. not to mention also that they are too strict for the app market which is not in benefits of consumers at all. i’m glad at least in Canada they will have the iPhone Unlocked and you can choose which career you want to be with with out singing a contract.

      • marK

        Point is that you’d have to violate the Iphone TOS to jailbreak your phone.

      • Attila434AD

        why do I need to J/B it?
        I have the old 1st generation iphone I cant use it as an ipod.
        evry time I go to itune it ask me to put a sim card,and if I put my iphone sim it change my data plain to the $20.00
        one, total mess, last time I just left it antil at&t called me and said that I have 3G simcard with the wrong data plain.
        I think that at&t and Apple shuld unlock the iphones that are over the 2 year contract or buy them back.

  • fully charged

    i think that soon u will start to c the iphone on multiple carriers

  • jawman

    About damn time. I hope Apple and AT&T try to point the finger at one another, and in turn both crash and burn.

  • Bada$$

    Hahahahahasha Apple and AT&TRASH!!

  • Tyler

    Since when can the government tell a company what they can sell on THEIR store to put on THEIR phone. I’m all for protecting competition, but this is stupid.

  • d(*_*)b

    its a conspiracy its all verizon customers who are filling this silly lawsuit just so t-mobile or sprint can get the iphone.

    • VZredNuts

      That makes no sense! Verizon filed the suit so t-mobile and sprint customers could get the phone?

  • mike

    this is such a bs lawsuit. they don’t have a monopoly, if apple and AT&T have a monopoly then what about htc and sprint?

    just because a phone is only available on one carrier and that phone maker only has one phone doesn’t mean its a monopoly. If you don’t like how the iPhone is, then buy an android one, or a normal phone… nobody is telling you you have to buy an iPhone. and personally, I like the fact that apple bans a lot of apps, it keeps it uncluttered.

    • stephen

      HTC is not exclusive to Sprint… They have phones on every major US carrier.

      • NumbersGuy

        Maybe he was thinking “Sanyo and Sprint”…

        Anyway, it is a BS suit. People have choices…they can accept the Apple-AT&T exclusivity or buy elsewhere. However, the phone should be unlocked upon request like any other.

  • Jobs sukk balls

    I hope jobs loses everything and apple goes out of business, I’ll be glad if that happens. I hope all the idiot fanboys go with him.

    • http://www.BeHandsFree.org Mel

      Not Only does Your Statement Shows Your IQ. ..
      It also proves YOUR IQ. ..
      PPl needs to pull their head out of the sand ..
      This is Just Business .. Start Your Own Business .. see what it takes to run it and make money in it.
      I do agree with the Unlocked Phones and I also think that there should Not be a early termination fee .. I’d .. personally .. would rather pay for the phone instead of getting a discount, (to be locked it to the two year contract); then I can go to whom ever I want to for service.

      • VZredNuts

        You would pay $100-$300 more not to have a contract that you would probably keep any ways?

  • Dave

    what I don’t understand is WHY AT&T is the only 3G GSM company in the U.S I mean most of the world is GSM. so even if the iphone is not exclusive to At&t it still wouldn’t work unless you use it on a non 3g tmobile which I personally think is useless unless its used only for making calls and no internet. I think Verizon or any other career in the U.S should simply follow the world and adapt GSM so the iphone or any other phone can be used with any career they want. Bell and Telus and vergin (bell brand) in Canada all switched to GSM because they knew they are missing out and they had no choice but to change to GSM. which is great for costumer because you can use any phone for any network. I think people(customers) should pressure verizon or sprint to adapt GSM rather than asking phone companies to make CDMA phone for the networks which can’t be used for any other network in the world. have a GSM phone and you can use it anywhere in the world simple

    • NumbersGuy

      A lot of your “facts” need revising, e.g., CDMA isn’t exclusive to the U.S.; GSM in the U.S. uses different frequencies from GSM in Europe. Also, why should a carrier make it easy for a customer to leave for another service provider? That’s not business, as usual.

  • Topher86

    Lame lawsuit, because I guarantee all those ppl complaining about not being able to unlock their iPhone after 2 years, once they get it unlocked and hop on to Tmo’s EDGE, they’ll start complaining about having to deal w/ slow speeds, and then probably sue Apple for the iPhone not having Tmo’s 3G bands. Essentially, they completely look past the meaning ‘exclusivity’. Easy fix would have been putting information about the length Apple’s exclusivity w/ at&t into the terms and conditions of an iPhone contract; therefore customers couldn’t say they were unaware of any legalities.

  • Brett

    What? Fool android is on all major carriers.

  • http://waterball.yalujj.com zorb ball

    I hope jobs loses everything and apple goes out of business, I’ll be glad if that happens. I hope all the idiot fanboys go with him.

  • Jobs sukk balls

    I hope jobs loses everything and apple goes out of business, I’ll be glad if that happens. I hope all the idiot fanboys go with him.

  • Diane

    I love my iPhone and wanted to learn more about this federal lawsuit. Does anyone know about the actual suit?

  • Lauren

    diane.
    the suit is based upon the fact that after the two year contract we have with our iphones and at&t, these two companies have a contract users arent aware of that is actually for 5 years.
    ie: even if your two years is up and you really want to go to t-mobile, you have to jailbreak or unlock your phone to go there. – if you did that, you would have to break the terms of service with apple rendering your apple protection plan useless if you had a problem with the phone. the apple phone and apple tech support would just say it was due to the jailbreak and you would have no recourse. -

    judge james ware in california has allowed the class action lawsuit to take place, and they now need to find proof and documentation that there indeed was a 5 year aggreement between apple and at&t trapping us consumers into both products. it pisses me off.

    “the suit accuses the pair of colluding to deceive the customer by offering two-year contracts with the iPhone handset, when in reality the phone was locked to AT&T’s network until 2012.”

    i hate at&t but i love my iphone too. i have had every phone faithfully since the iphone came out. — after this, i will probably switch to the
    galaxy s though. i always try to defend them, but apple is turning into a true cult, full of greed with their patents, and they dont switch the look/design of the phone at all. they limit us users and keep us behind the curve; trying to excite us once a year with items my fiances phone has had for almost a year. important ones. like multifunction. condensing applications. etc. anyhow, i really hope that they do correct the wrongdoings of these companies if they find them guilty. way to take advantage of (as you can see a loyal customer) how much damn money do they need.

    bottom line. a company with the trendiest product is nothing if the customer service and integrity sucks. i will go elseware.

    and trust me, diane. i am reluctant to switch because im use to iphone, but the android market on my fiances phone is AMAZING. its much more personal and if there is just so much more out there because its not as reigned over and hard contracted as the apple market. i held an evo phone the other day that really made me think twice about my loyalties. sorry for running on. — didnt realize i was this fed up! :-D

    “the suit accuses the pair of colluding to deceive the customer by offering two-year contracts with the iPhone handset, when in reality the phone was locked to AT&T’s network until 2012.”

    cya. lauren.

  • Lauren

    elsewhere*

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