AT&T iPhone Exclusivity Lawsuit Now Upgraded to Class Action
A while ago a lawsuit was filed which basically alleges that AT&T has formed a monopoly over the iPhone due to the five year exclusivity agreement with Apple, well the word is that lawsuit has now been given certification as a class action lawsuit.
According to Nilay Patel over on Engadget, and by way of an article over on Wired, this means the class action lawsuit now includes anyone that purchased an iPhone on AT&T.
The lawsuit came about because iPhone customers that signed into a 2 year agreement weren’t told about the exclusivity deal for 5 years with AT&T and thus meaning iPhone customers would be held to AT&T for a further 3 years if they still wanted to use their iPhone.
On Thursday, Judge James Ware of the US District court of the Northern District of California gave his stamp of approval on the lawsuit and granted class certification. The lead counsel for the plaintiffs of the suit, Mark Rifkin in an interview with Wired said…“The court has allowed [multiple] plaintiffs to represent 20 million consumers who have been forced to use AT&T for iPhone voice and data service, despite an agreement that allows them to terminate at any time and presumably switch carriers.”
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2 thoughts on “AT&T iPhone Exclusivity Lawsuit Now Upgraded to Class Action”
And so what would you gain? Monetary at best, because these are GSM coded phones; Unless this is the reason we've heard/read rumors about a Verizon (CDMA ) Iphone. Prehaps the AT-&T and Apple lawyers, new this was a winnable case for the plaintiffs.
With any other phone that AT&T carries, they will provide you with the unlock code after your contract period is up, except for the iphone. The suit is about ffullfilling your contractual agreement but are still tied to AT&T. If you wanted to switch to T-mobile you would not be able to. I totally disagree with you on this one. AT&T will have to settle out of court at the very least, or there's a very good chance that they will lose. THe issue is not about using your iphone on Verizon, it's about fullfilling your contratual agreement but still being tied to AT&T because of the phone when no other phone from AT&T forces you to do that.