FacetimeSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • A court has thrown out a case against Apple for FaceTime.
  • The lawsuit claimed Apple intentionally broke FaceTime in older iPhones.
  • The court ruled the claims "are untimely and must be dismissed".

Apple has just gotten a win in court. Reported by 9to5Mac, a federal court in Florida has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the company purposefully 'broke' FaceTime for older iPhones.

The lawsuit said that Apple intentionally removed compatibility in older models of the iPhone "to avoid costly transmitting services." The court, however, decided that the claims in the lawsuit "are untimely and must be dismissed," according to a new report from Bloomberg Law.

When Apple launched iOS 7 in 2013, the company implemented a new peer-to-peer standard for its FaceTime video calling service. The new standard allowed Apple to offer the service without infringing on patents from VirnetX, which it had been paying in order to operate the service.

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While the new standard saved Apple money and set up the service for the future, it came at the cost of incompatibility with iPhones unable to be upgraded to iOS 7. This led Apple to be sued, with the plaintiff claiming Apple did this intentionally in order to avoid paying data costs to Akamai.

Apple recently settled a similar case in California, but today's ruling saves the company from going through with potentially another settlement in Florida.