Apple on Monday won final judgment to dismiss a class action complaint claiming the company unjustly profits from the aggregation and sale of iTunes and Apple Music user data.
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup in a judgment delivered the Northern Court of California dismissed the case with prejudice after plaintiffs failed to file an amended complaint on the matter by Nov 14. Apple on Oct. 25 won a motion to dismiss the litigation when Alsup determined facts and supporting documents presented by plaintiffs were inadequate.
Lodged in May, the litigation involves three named complainants who allege Apple broke Rhode Island and Michigan law for selling, renting, transmitting, or disclosing a customer’s information without consent. Specifically, plaintiffs Leigh Wheaton, Jill Paul and Trevor Paul claim Apple sold and otherwise exposed personal listening information to third parties, including data brokers and app developers.
Pertaining to iOS developers, plaintiffs claim Apple allowed app makers access to library and listening metadata, user “tokens” that might be associated with personal information, and gifted songs. On the latter, the complaint notes iTunes incorporates a feature that tells users attempting to gift a song to another customer whether a recipient already owns a given track. The feature reveals a recipient’s name and listening history, the complaint reads.
Read more at AppleInsider.com