Judge tosses ‘Error 53’ lawsuit against Apple out of the window

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A United States district court judge has tossed so-called ‘Error 53’ lawsuit against Apple out of the window on grounds that the plaintiffs “lack standing to pursue injunctive relief”. The plaintiffs argued that the iOS 9 software update causing certain devices with a faulty Touch ID or Home button, like the iPhone 6, to be bricked has resulted in permanent data loss.

They were unable, however, to frame the argument in court a legal loss.

The plaintiffs wrote in their complaint that Apple should have disclosed that their devices “would be destroyed by imbedded features if they had repaired devices using an independent service and then updated to certain iOS versions.”

They ultimately asked Apple to pay up for damage to the phones, false advertising and other alleged wrong-doings, to which the judge said that “the plaintiffs haven’t plausibly alleged that Apple actually knew of this alleged risk.”

“The mere fact that a company has designed a product doesn’t mean it automatically knows about all of that product’s potential design flaws,” as per the ruling.

As a quick refresher, the software update has rendered the affected users’ iPhones worthless due to Touch ID and Home button parts being replaced by unauthorized repair firms using non-original components.

The plaintiffs position is that Apple’s policy was forcing people to service their handset in Apple Stores, which charge a premium for replacing faulty Home buttons. However, the company soon after issued another software update which let people restore their bricked devices through iTunes, and apologized for inconveniencing users.

Apple also offered to cover any repair claims, including reimbursing customers who had paid out of their own pockets to address the issue.

Originally, the Cupertino firm explained that the iPhone requires its Home button to be paired to a specific Touch ID sensor and cables that must have specific hardware-encoded serial numbers.

“Without this unique pairing, a malicious Touch ID sensor could be substituted, thereby gaining access to the secure enclave,” explained the Cupertino firm. “When iOS detects that the pairing fails, Touch ID, including Apple Pay, is disabled so the device remains secure.”

You can read the ruling here.

A similar lawsuit concerning this issue is underway in Seattle.

Source: Fortune