Smurfberries, zombie toxin, city cash, and gems just got real expensive for Apple. A nine-digit settlement proposal is now on the table, as Apple agrees to foot the bill for kids who racked up in-app purchases on their parents' iTunes accounts. That's right; Cupertino will be taking responsibility for parents who refuse to take responsibility for the actions of their own kids. What the Smurf, right?
In April of 2011 Garen Meguerian filed a lawsuit against Apple on behalf of a number of parents, claiming that Apple made it too easy for children to spend Mom and Dad's money through in-app purchases. The problem revolved around the fact that "children were able to purchase 'game currencies' without their parents’ knowledge or authorization while playing game applications, provided by Apple and advertised as free." Prior to the lawsuit, users could buy game currency 15 times without re-entering a password, and parents allege they were somehow unaware that additional purchases could be made this way, the poor things.
Apple pushed hard to have the lawsuit dismissed, first claiming that the Terms of Service were clear, and then claiming that they made significant changes to how iOS devices handled in-app purchases, giving parents more control and safeguards. Last April, Judge Edward Davila ruled against Apple, and allowed the lawsuit, Case No. 11-01758, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California — which had grown to include several other parents' complaints into one big class action suit, involving perhaps 23 million customers — to proceed.
Because it can't be little Johnny's fault that he ran up a bill on the credit card, and it can't be Mommy or Daddy's fault that they gave their toddler a grown-up's $600 mobile device as a toy without even understanding how it works; of course, it simply must be Apple's fault. Last week, Apple apparently decided enough is enough. Cupertino whipped out the checkbook and offered a settlement in which Cupertino agreed to reimburse parents with iTunes Store credits or straight cash.
Really, no one can eat a wheel barrow of Smurfberries anyway.
According to the settlement offer, Apple will provide iTunes Store credits to parents whose kids bought less than $30 of in-app purchases; for parents who are claiming more than $30, Apple is offering cash. The total settlement amount Apple will pay is expected to exceed $100 million.
Though the settlement is "unopposed," it is pending court approval. A hearing on this issue is expected to begin on March 1. While it seems likely that the court will approve the settlement plan, there is always the possibility that something will Smurf it up at the last minute. Though it appears that this is one lawsuit Apple is more than ready to pay to go away, and now a whole village of children can learn the valulable lesson that if you make a mistake, find someone else to blame it on — and if they have money, sue them.
Timothy McSwain
February 28, 2013 at 9:09pm
This is ridiculous. Parents need to control their children; it isn't Apple's responsibility. Seriously, they even built-in a Restrictions system to keep this from happening. If parents don't use it, that's their own problem.
