Details on Proposed Settlement of Class-Action iPod Battery Suit--Get an Apple $50 Purchase Certificate

Here we go again. First, there is a somewhat dubious class action lawsuit (does any battery live up to its claim?). Then, the class members get certificates that to collect on cause them to spend even more money on products from the entity they sued (since it's Apple, we'll probably all do that anyway). And finally, the attorneys take home a huge multimillion dollar fee ($2.8 million here). Oh, and the named plaintiffs occasionally get an additional benefit over othe class members ($1,500 here)

In this case, several people sued Apple because they claimed that the battery in their iPod did not substantilly live up to Apple's claims of a 10-hour play time for the life of their iPod. The settlement provides a $50 certificate for each qualifying iPod bought new and an extension of the iPod's warranty from one to two years. The suit covers first, second and third (iPod with 4 round buttons) generation iPods bought before May 1, 2004, so only the 3G model owners are likely to benefit from the extended warranty. Of course, the battery has to have failed too, i.e. it runs for less than 5 hours for 1G and 2G iPods and less than 4 hours for 3G iPods. The settlement also provides for up to $50 reimbursement for to those who paid to have their batteries replaced.

The $50 certificates can be used to purchase additional Apple products except for iTunes songs and gift certificates. If you bought multiple iPods, however, the $50 certificates cannot be aggregated on a single Apple product.

All of the details are covered on the Apple iPod Settlement Web site. It includes PDF files of the notice of proposed settlement, the claim form and instructions for filing the claim form. It also includes a generally useless FAQ that largely just refers to paragraphs in the notice and a listing of deadlines. Generally, you have until September 30, 2005, to apply--maybe longer if you recently bought a new 3G iPod.

Our four 1G iPods all get less than 5 hours play time on a full charge today so we'll have to decide if we want to skewer Apple for some nearly-free wireless keyboards or mice or something.... [Dana Baggett & Bill Fox]