What you need to know
- A Brazil court has ruled in favor of Apple over the controversial practice of slowing down iPhones.
- Authorities established that Apple had taken appropriate action.
- A subsequent court case was dismissed as unfounded.
A court in Brazil has dismissed a case against Apple over the iPhone slowdown controversy as unfounded after authorities determined that Apple had taken appropriate action.
As reported by Tilt:
If in international courts Apple has been "beaten", here in Brazil has been winning some victories. Still, the authors of the Brazilian lawsuit want to take the matter to the STF (Supreme Federal Court). And they will use international developments to convince the judges.
Regarding Brazil's reaction to #BatteryGate:
Apple's practices have also had a reaction in Brazil. The Ministry of Justice's National Consumer Secretariat even opened an investigation, but filed it because it thought there was insufficient evidence and believed that Apple had already taken appropriate action.Public prosecutors in Rio and Paraná also closed their inquiries for the same reason. Procon-SP, linked to the São Paulo State Government, notified Apple, but the case did not proceed.
According to too the report, 350 consumers contacted the Brazilian Institute for Consumer Protection in complaint. A court case on the matter was brought before the Federal District and Territories Court of Justice. The first time around the case was dismissed without the evidence even being reviewed, the second time a judge ruled that this was not "planned obsolescence", and that Apple had acted to preserve the user experience by mitigating battery deterioration.
As the report notes, elsewhere in the world, Apple has had the book thrown at it in court, ordered to pay a fine in France, and an even larger $500 million settlement in California. Parties intend to return the case to court, showing these rulings as precedent.
