In the past month or so, we have reported on a couple of lawsuits involving Apple. One was about a copyright claim over diverse emoji while the other was about Apple allegedly misleading consumers over iPhone water resistance claims. The court ruled in favor of the Cupertino firm in both these cases. However, this time, Apple has agreed to settle outside of court in a class-action lawsuit about iCloud.
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As spotted by MacWorld, Apple has been accused of storing user data for iCloud on third-party servers rather than its own. According to the class-action lawsuit, this constitutes a breach of contract of Apple"s own terms and conditions for the service. Although Apple has denied any wrongdoing, it has agreed to distribute $14.8 million to plaintiffs of the suit.
For those wondering if they"re covered in this payout, you basically have to be a U.S. resident who paid for iCloud between September 16, 2015 and January 31, 2016. The email account you used to subscribe to the service must also still be active.
And if your next question is about what financial compensation you"re getting, that"s dependent on which tier you subscribed to. This is a "pro-rata" distribution and you can find all the details in the legalese here.
If you wish, you can opt out of the class-action by May 23, 2022. What this means is that you can sue Apple in separate lawsuits related to the same matter but you won"t be eligible for a payout in this settlement. Alternatively, if you don"t like the terms of the settlement, you can also file an objection by the same date and then attend the final court hearing on August 4 to voice your concerns. The report doesn"t clarify the timeline for the payout completion, but it will likely be after the aforementioned dates.
Source: Storageclassactionsettlement.com via MacWorld