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08/10/2007, 2:10pm, EDT

Friday, August 10th

Apple lawsuits: power adapters, receipts

Two new class action lawsuits have been filed against Apple: one regarding the potential for identity theft allegedly set forth by information contained in online store receipts, and the other claiming that Apple's power adapter design infringes upon two patents for a similarly functioning device. AppleInsider reports that two Miami-Dade County citizens, Angely Maria and Todd Narson, have begun a class action suit in a local court that claims Apple has "recklessly disregarded" consumers' rights to have credit or debit card information kept secret under a section of the US federal government's Fair Credit Reporting Act. That act disallows companies to display a customer's credit or debit card's expiration date, as well more than the last five digits of the card's number. The suit alleges that receipts from Apple's online store have shown more information than allowed under the FCRA.

The other suit, filed by a Michigan man, claims that Apple's inclusion of a battery status LED at the end of a notebook recharger overlaps with a previously established patent. The suit calls for Apple to account for lost profits and also pay out triple the awarded damages for patent infringement.


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geez...
0
08/10, 2:39pm, EDT
Why are people so sue happy?!?! I can see the receipt thing because identity theft is huge and I wouldn't won't a ton of personal info on a loose piece of paper.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jun 2007
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Only in Florida
0
08/10, 2:55pm, EDT
I just pulled up 3 old emailed receipts from prior purchases made at different Apple stores. Lots of them in Mass. None of them showed anything except the last 4 digits of my credit card and nowhere on it was the expiration date shown. They are looking for a free ride on Apple's dime. Sue happy freaks!
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dubious
0
08/10, 3:11pm, EDT
I found a receipt from November 2004, and it does have my card's expiration date on it, but only the last 4 digits of my card number.

Remember that these are online receipts, not store receipts. The receipts are not printed out by Apple - if there is a printed version, it's the customer who prints it. Dubious lawsuit, to say the least.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jul 2006
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Patent?
0
08/10, 4:11pm, EDT
How about previous art, Apple has had a charge status light at the end of it's AC adapter since 2002, the patent was awarded in 2004. Not to mention, this wouldn't affect the company's profits since they don't make AC adapters for MacBooks.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Aug 2001
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Not from the retail store
0
08/10, 4:53pm, EDT
My receipt also only shows the last 4 digits of the CC and nothing else...

Florida might have some different legislation...
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jul 2004
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receipt suit?
0
08/10, 6:33pm, EDT
I looked at 2 receipts from the Apple online store. One from May 2006 and one from May 2007. Neither of them has any CC info at all on it. Neither do the order acknowledgements.

Also, the law about not showing the expiration date. If that really is the law, that is recent. I know that last year or early this year my CC processor for my business was bugging me continually about the CC Number being shown (I had it right but they kept sending out reminders of the law coming into effect) and I asked the people who provide the SW I use (Monetra -- good software and runs on OS X) and they said the law only covered the number, not the expiration date. I updated my templates anyway to not show the date and only the last couple of digits of the number. So all of this is really recent anyways in terms of the law.

Chad
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Proof!
0
08/10, 7:01pm, EDT
That's it, its a fraud lawsuit! We've got the proof right here! 7 receipts from 4 different users. Since 7 is a large representable sample, the so-called illegal receipts must be fakes!
Fresh-Faced Recruit
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New IWEB Lawsuit
0
08/10, 7:55pm, EDT
Wait until the IWEB 08 Losses hit the fan. It is destroying years of work
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testudass
0
08/10, 10:07pm, EDT
once again, proving he is an ass.

these are people relating their own experiences, not setting up a legal precedent.

doofus.
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Statistics..
0
08/10, 11:37pm, EDT
Well, considering the format of the receipts isn't going to follow any kind of "normal" distribution in terms of whether or not they show more credit card numbers or expiry dates, 7 may be enough receipts to offer up as "proof". After all, I'm sure that Apple doesn't have some kind of receipt-format-randomizer built into their web store. It's likely that if seven receipts from a wide enough timeframe all have the same characteristics, that every receipt ever issued from the Apple Store would have the same characteristics.

I don't think a "large statistical representation" is needed here.
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