Apple's week gets worse as SEC filing reveals new lawsuits

Although the worst of Apple's recent stock option scandal may have passed, the company's friendly legal department won't be getting a rest anytime soon. In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday, the company revealed that it is facing several previously unseen lawsuits. The first case calls for unspecified damages related to Apple's proprietary DRM system, although it's not the first time Apple's use of Fairplay has landed it in lawyer infested waters. Next up, a plaintiff is seeking damages in relation to an alleged abnormally high rate of logic board failure in Apple's iBook G4 series -- despite our intimate knowledge of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the skills we've learnt from this particular title don't allow us to explain to you why the plaintiff wasn't satisfied with the currently existing iBook Logic Board Replacement Program. Finally, a company called PhatRat Technology has filed a claim alleging that Apple's Nike-iPod product infringes their copyright. As daunting as this filing may seem -- especially in the context of its release only a couple of days before the most unproductive day of the year -- our archives show that this filing is just another page on the company's long record of battling with individuals and corporations that have exerted their right to sue.

[Nick @ Dec 30th 2006 9:29PM]

tell apple to stop stealing ideas then

[shawn @ Jan 1st 2007 12:17PM]

if Apple can steal someone else's idea and do it better, then i'm all for it. i just want what is the best of the best out there

lawsuits are just a cost of doing business

[Tiger @ Dec 30th 2006 9:32PM]

Hehe, I know, I almost feel sorry for Apple. Not quite though, they really need to be a bit more careful. And no, I'm not an Apple hater, I happen to prefer Apple to MS, so I think this is fairly unbiased. And owning an iPod, I happen to know the pain of trying to get iTunes to accept non-AAC files from Napster and what-have-you, granted I've moved to iTunes now as it is much better! And yeah, I sent this in too, so you're welcome.

[jsg @ Dec 30th 2006 9:32PM]

Um... 'exerted' their right to sue? I don't think that word means what you think it means. Maybe you were looking for 'exercised?'

[Shawn @ Dec 30th 2006 10:19PM]

ex·ert (ĭg-zûrt') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. ex·ert·ed, ex·ert·ing, ex·erts

1. To put to use or effect; put forth: exerted all my strength to move the box.
2. To bring to bear; exercise: exert influence.
3. To put (oneself) to strenuous effort: exerted ourselves mightily to raise funds.

[3rdsun @ Dec 30th 2006 10:35PM]

i will be bringing foward my lawsuit against Apple for putting "i" in every product they have. i tend to use "i" on a regular basis and this obstructs my regular conversations. sometimes i have to look over my shoulder before i say "i" in case some apple attack lawyer has me for lunch. i am having so much stress over this.

[xVariable @ Dec 30th 2006 10:48PM]

Just keep in mind that, without lawyers, you would have NO rights. "But stupid people exploit the legal system," you say? Maybe, but where do you draw the line? Rest assured that, if we actually go down the road you suggest, there will inevitably be someone "smarter" o

[Storm9 @ Dec 30th 2006 11:01PM]

Wow, the blogger"Conrad Quilty-Harper"
must be a Apple hater.

Becuase this is really nothing important yet he blows it WAAY out of proportion and it is take WAAY OUT OF CONTEXT!

[Henry @ Dec 31st 2006 1:35AM]

Did you know that Conrad blogged for The Unofficial Apple Weblog as well as Engadget? I think you're finding bias where there is none.

[Storm9 @ Dec 30th 2006 11:02PM]

Also, hahaha

"apple's week gets worse"

WTF r u smoking??

Apple's stock jumped 5% on friday when the SEC news cameout.

[Dan @ Dec 30th 2006 11:46PM]

"... despite our intimate knowledge of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney"

OBJECTION!

[Jamar @ Dec 31st 2006 10:33AM]

Or for those on the other side of the Pacific, 異議あり!

[Dcamp @ Dec 30th 2006 11:48PM]

I find it is important to discern relevance from simply rejecting what is popular or underdog at the moment of fad, fashion and politics. The idea of brand marketing is to get people riled up and political, clannish / cultural about technology products to inspire loyalty to sales.

Let's check ourselves before things dissolve into an apple / anti-apple mess. Personally, I think every business should always question itself in regards to "best practice." And people should always be able to hold a business to account on that business's actions. Apple will either prove its legal kung-fu or prove the reality of its business practices against the quality of its product.

This article is written more as a list with Apple's legal issues spattered with language insinuating ominous times and legal entangles. It would serve better as a straight-faced list of the legal issues and perhaps some actual documents or references other than articles posted on this site. Not to mention 80% of the real messages are merely taken from the originating article.

If I were a baby bird in the nest, even I would not need this meal regurgitated at me.

[Alex @ Dec 31st 2006 12:10AM]

OBJECTION!

http://objection.mrdictionary.net/go.php?n=1622838

[DM @ Dec 31st 2006 1:16AM]

Hmmm. What happened to those apple fanboys bashing the zune?? lol. Bill Gates always gets the last laugh.

[Ernie Smith @ Dec 31st 2006 1:45AM]

Simply put, I'm glad the iBook thing is being taken to court. The problem is almost exactly the same as the one with the iBook G3s (a capacitor on the logic board breaks, making the video unusable but, unlike the current replacement plan Apple isn't replacing the G4s. I learned this the hard way when the logic board on my G4/800 died and realized it would cost me over $300 to replace it. This is bad, considering you can buy a used one on eBay for $500-600.

I also had to replace a logic board on this current iBook I own (for a different reason), but this one fortunately had AppleCare so it didn't cost me anything.

I don't know why I put up with this. Oh, I remember; because the iBook is a kickass computer when it works.

[uberpinguin @ Jan 4th 2007 9:02AM]

See, that's where you're wrong. The proper thing to do would be to license the idea and make improvements on it. Theft is theft, whether or not you are making innovations.
If you had poured a lot of time, effort and money into creating something, then some billion-dollar behemoth saw it and said 'Hi, we're going to use that. But since we're going to make it a bit better, and have an enormous marketing machine, we don't have to pay you anything. In fact, if you try to use or market it yourself, we may sue you,' I don't think you'd be singing the same tune.
And just so there's no confusion, Apple _does_ steal. They've stolen a lot of ideas from Open-Source projects, claimed them as their own Amazing Technological Breakthroughs(tm), and sold them without so much as a nod to the original project. In fact, some of the upcoming 'innovations' in Leopard are just eye candy glued onto existing XFree/X.org/FreeDesktop.org features.

I think the most ironic bit is how Apple gets so many of the 'I'm indie and want my computer to be counter-culture and have integrity; I don't want that evil Microsoft stuff - they're thieves anyway' to blindly buy into Apple's own corporate whoredom.

Oh, and on a final note: The 'Mac vs. PC' debate is just stupid. Macs _are_ PC's! Always have been. In fact, the Mac was the _first_ Personal Computer. Tear one open, and the only difference on a hardware level between a Mac and an x86 is the processor architecture - they both have IDE, PCI, PCIe, AGP, SCSI. If you're going to get religious about your computers, at least know what to call your gods and demons!

[J @ Dec 31st 2006 1:44PM]

suing over bad logic boards. with most companies once your 12 month warranty is up that's it, go fish. at least apple came out and said there was a problem (although they needed to be pushed) i've had scanners, toasters, dvd players, monitors and many more appliances fail on their 13 month and all I get is a PFO from the manufacturers.

products aren't designed to last forever and many have design flaws to start with. why don't these individuals sue light bulb manufacturers as the filament is obliviously too delicate and burns out too quickly, among 1000s of examples.

[Richard @ Dec 31st 2006 7:49PM]

There's a bit of a difference between a $30 toaster burning out after a year and a $1500 computer burning out 2 months after its warranty expires. Especially when it's happening on a regular basis, has happened in a prior series of the same product and was acknowledged by the company, yet is being ignored in the current series of the product. My logic board just failed too and nobody at Apple even mentioned that the G3s had been recalled for the same issue. I switched from PC to Apple with this computer, but they just lost my business.