Apple Request To Dismiss iPod Lawsuit Denied By Judge

“A U.S. district judge Monday declined to throw out a class-action suit about pricing of Apple Inc. AAPL iPods, but ordered plaintiffs' lawyers to identify class representatives who had bought one of the iPod models at issue in the case,” according to Jeff Elder of Dow Jones.


Apple had recently discovered that the last remaining class representative had not bought an iPod during the time frame covered by the case and sought to have the case dismissed. However, Judge Rogers allowed the the case to proceed because she has "an affirmative obligation and a duty" to protect the approximately eight million iPod buyers included in the class, according to the report.



“Earlier Monday, a Stanford University economist told the eight-member jury that iPod buyers from 2007 to 2009 paid an average of $12, and as much as $31, more than they should have because of Apple's anticompetitive actions,” according to Elder.


The report cited economist Roger Noll as stating that “Apple worked to "lock in" its customers by making its products incompatible with the rest of the digital-music marketplace during those years, costing iPod customers and resellers around $350 million. Plaintiffs say Apple violated antitrust laws by making it hard to play rivals' music files on iPods.”

More details about new "lead representative" iPod owners are expected later in the week.