iPhone battery lawsuit dismissed

Removing the iPhone's battery (the big white thing) is not a trivial process, but a judge has ruled that Apple warned people ahead of time.

(Credit: TechRepublic)

Apple won't have to deal with a lawsuit filed over the iPhone battery.

Bloomberg reports that a judge in Chicago has dismissed Jose Trujillo's lawsuit against Apple claiming the company deceived him regarding the user replaceable status of the iPhone battery. The judge simply read the packaging on the iPhone, which described the battery has having "limited recharge cycles and may eventually need to be replaced by Apple service provider," and ruled that was sufficient warning prior to purchase that the battery had to be replaced by Apple or a third party.

Trujillo's lawsuit never seemed to have much of a chance--the original complaint completely misrepresented key facts, such as the expected life of the battery--but he was probably hoping to cash in by linking his case to a successful one over the iPod's battery. However, the case isn't completely dead yet. AT&T still has to work out some sort of deal after the judge ruled that Trujillo was not aware prior to purchase that any dispute between himself and AT&T would have to be worked out through arbitration, not the court system.

[MaggieRed]

Good for them.

[badmojo42]

Yeah, way to screw your customers by not letting them carry extra batteries that can easily be changed like every other device out there. Good job Apple.

[Perry_Clease]

Every device?

[ittesi259]

Seeing as how Apple never has had replaceable batteries in an iPod, I don't know what this customer was expecting. Its not hard the ask...or notice there weren't any additional batteries for sale. Apple may be off the hook but I am interested of what will happen with the "AT&T didn't discoles the arbitration requirement" part of the decision...Is this not covered in the contract? And if it is that could have far reaching implications.

[Tom Krazit]

From what I understand, the AT&T part is just over the fact that AT&T has a notice in their contracts that disputes between the company and the customers are supposed to be settled through an arbitration process, not the legal system. AT&T had moved to dismiss the case based on that fact, that they should be arguing the dispute in arbitration, not a courtroom. But the judge ruled that Trujillo didn't have a copy of the terms of service handy when he bought the iPhone, so it was ok for him to file a lawsuit rather than seek arbitration. That doesn't mean the suit won't eventually be dismissed on the merits anyway, but just that the venue is appropriate.

[solu1978]

iPhone is a Great device .. but the truth is .. it has a bad battery.. a $19.99 prepaid phone at walmarts has better battery life.

If iphone has rich features it also needs to have a good battery that supports that. Its no good to have 16 gigs of movies and songs and not been able to play because the battery is dead.

Too bad he lost the case.. Apple loves their customers.

[MaggieRed]

If you don't want to go to a local Apple store, then the battery replacement kits are available for the DIY.

[Iria00]

Wha? Where did you hear that? 3rd party., yes, but Apple doesn't have one. And opening up your iPhone like that will void the warranty.

And aren't there at least two OTHER battery lawsuits over the iPhone?

[Iria00]

If I remember correctly there are at least two other battery lawsuits over the iPhone, however.

[Tlil]

yaa this happed if yur r using iphone

[Tlil]

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