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Apple settles in 'millions of colors' court case

updated 10:05 am EDT, Wed March 26, 2008

'Millions of colors' suit


Apple has agreed to an out-of-court settlement in a long-running lawsuit over the MacBook and MacBook Pro, writes the Chicago Tribune. Two California photographers, Fred Greaves and Dave Gatley, filed the class action suit in May of last year, over Apple's claim that the Pro could display "millions of colors." According to the filing, the reality is that Apple fakes the notebooks' color range through software dithering, and yet offers the extended color option in a Mac OS X drop-down menu, without any mention of software emulation.

While this may be acceptable for most users, Greaves and Gatley contend that it hurts professional photography work. When editing, they say, maximum color accuracy is needed to ensure the best output. This can become especially important when making the leap from digital display to print.

The terms of the settlement have not been made public, but plaintiff lawyer Peter Polischuk is said to have explained that his clients had trouble finding other participants for the action. To become involved, they would also have had to buy a MacBook for reasons of color range.


by MacNN Staff

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Comments

  1. 64stang06

    Mac Elite

    Joined: Aug 2007

    0

    dumb

    "...his clients had trouble finding other participants for the action."

    I wonder why. Perhaps no one else had this issue or was bothered enough to file a stupid lawsuit?

  1. simdude

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2004

    0

    laptop?

    While I can imagine a professional photographer using a laptop for field work and a good approximation of color, I can't imagine it being used as an accurate proof. I would think any real photographer would move the images to a desktop machine with video card and monitor with color correction sensor, glare shielding etc. Any pro photographers out there that could comment?

  1. rytc

    Senior User

    Joined: Jan 2001

    0

    settle

    Well, Apple settled which means the case had merits - the less that companies try to twist the truth the better for all of us.

  1. JohnnyFive

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2003

    0

    re: laptop?

    i concur. any pro who uses a laptop screen for colour critical work should be slapped.

  1. hayesk

    Professional Poster

    Joined: Sep 1999

    0

    Re: settle

    While I think this case has merit, settling is by no means an admission of guilt or that the case has merit. It just indicates they feel it is more advantageous to settle than to fight it in court. Even if Apple won the case, it still costs them money.

  1. eldarkus

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2004

    0

    @simdude

    You are 100% correct. Professionals would be using, at the very least, an external monitor to do real color correction.

    I am not a pro, but when asking about color correcting my laptop (using Eye One/Spyder3 device), I was told to do the color adjustments on the laptop, then move to my LaCie monitor for a final proof.

  1. gramos

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2008

    0

    No participants??

    "...his clients had trouble finding other participants for the action."

    Geez! Anybody wanna join me in suing Apple for lying to me? I bought a new iMac and the box clearly stated that it came with a mouse. I was surprised to find no mouse in the box...and I had already bought the feed and cage.

    ...oh, brother...

  1. paulc

    Junior Member

    Joined: Aug 2000

    0

    Actually...

    this is about claims as to the color range. From the settlement, we can see that the range ain't what they claim it to be.

    Whether a pro photographer does critical color work on a laptop is irrelevant.

    In other words... they lied (exaggerated marketing claim).

  1. elroth

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jul 2006

    0

    big deal

    All they deserve is to be able to return their laptops and get a refund, and maybe $100 each.

    As others have said, professional photograpers wouldn't be relying on a $1,000 laptop. The screen quality of the Macbook is so low it doesn't matter if it produces BILLIONS of colors - you wouldn't see them correctly anyway.

  1. michaelmazzen

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2007

    0

    Apple deserved that...

    Apple made some very serious false claims about the performance of the laptop. It borders on an outright lie to their customers. The case is not whether or not you should do you color work on a 5k$ widegamut monitor.

    Problem is many photographers need a laptop, and the market is plenty confusing for the not-so-technically skilled.

    We would expect a company like Apple to at least give accurate tecnical specs on their hardware. As a pro photographer, image editor and teacher/consultant, im glad Apple got a slap on the wrist for this one...

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