Three iPad owners who sued Apple this summer because their tablets overheated have added Apple’s TV and web commercials to their complaints, reports “Computerworld” (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9192219/Hot_iPad_lawsuit_turns_Apple_s_ads_into_ammo). Court documents show that Jacob Balthazar, Claudia Keller and John Browning amended their original federal complaint to cite iPad ads as key in their decision to buy the Apple tablet.
“Apple released a commercial depicting use of the iPad in various places, including outdoor locations such as a sidewalk cafe, front steps of a building, and on a grassy lawn, among others,” the new complaint stated. “Apple also posted a commercial on its website depicting the iPad being used in a variety of ways, including outdoors while affixed to the dashboard of a car and the gas tank of a motorcycle.”
In July Balthazar, Keller and Browning sued Apple over claims that its iPad easily overheats, then suddenly switches itself off. In a complaint filed with an Oakland, Calif. federal court, the three plaintiffs accused Apple of everything from fraud and deceptive advertising to violations of California’s consumer protection and unfair business practices laws by making, marketing and selling allegedly defective tablets, the article adds. The three claimed in July that they were duped into buying a defective device by Apple’s claim that “reading on iPad is just like reading a book.”
“The iPad does not live up to the reasonable consumer’s expectations created by Apple insofar as the iPad overheats so quickly under common weather conditions that it does not function for prolonged use outdoors, or in many other warm conditions,” the complaint read. According to the class complaint, the iPad unexpectedly shuts down in warm weather or when it’s in direct sunlight.
