OAKLAND, California (AP) – A billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Apple will likely continue, after a 65-year-old Massachusetts business consultant read about the plaintiffs’ floundering case online and volunteered to represent consumers in the suit.
A federal judge said she’s tentatively satisfied with a proposal to add Barbara Bennett as the new named plaintiff in the lawsuit over Apple’s iTunes software and the price of its iPods.
Bennett, who sometimes used her iPod to listen to music while ice skating, boarded a plane early yesterday and flew to California at the request of lawyers who are suing Apple Inc. on behalf of an estimated eight million consumers who purchased iPods between 2006 and 2009.
Bennett, who said she bought a special-edition iPod Nano in 2006 because she liked its striking red case, contacted the lawyers and offered to help after reading an online news account that said the case was close to collapsing for lack of a named plaintiff.
The case actually started with three plaintiffs suing Apple nearly ten years ago, but two of them withdrew and the judge disqualified the last one, Marianna Rosen, on Monday amid indications that Rosen didn’t herself purchase any of the affected iPods during the time frame covered by the suit.
Attorneys suing Apple have alleged that its use of restrictive software, which kept iPods from playing music purchased from competitors of Apple’s iTunes store, effectively blocked rivals from the market and allowed the Cupertino, California, company to sell iPods at inflated prices.
Apple says the software was necessary to prevent unauthorised copying. The plaintiffs are seeking $350 million in damages, which could be tripled if the jury finds violations of federal antitrust law.