Apple is hoping to dismiss a set of class-action lawsuits accusing it of falsely advertising Siri.
The initial lawsuit was filed in March by a iPhone 4S owner who claimed the iPhone 4S’s voice activated assistant feature doesn’t work as advertised. A second lawsuit accuses the company of misrepresenting the iPhone 4S’s voice assistant feature in its advertising campaign.
Apple claims that the case should be dismissed because the plaintiffs have not specified that the claims about Siri led them to purchase the device. Apple says: “When [plaintiffs] were exposed to the purportedly misleading advertisements, which ones they found material, how and why they were false, or which they relied upon in purchasing their iPhones.”
Apple also notes that the plaintiffs didn’t provide “the requisite pre-suit notice of an alleged breach of warranty” and: “Tellingly, although Plaintiffs claim they became dissatisfied with Siri’s performance “soon after” purchasing their iPhones, they made no attempt to avail themselves of Apple’s 30-day return policy or one-year warranty – which remains in effect.”
You can read Apple’s complete response to the lawsuit, at Electronista.
The second complaint, which was filed by California resident David Jones stated that: “Through its nationwide multimedia marketing campaign, Apple disseminates false and deceptive representations regarding the functionality of the Siri feature.”
“Defendant’s misrepresentations regarding the Siri Feature are misleading, false, reasonably likely to deceive and have deceived Plaintiff and members of the putative Class,” says that complaint.
“Soon after purchasing his iPhone 4S, Plaintiff [Jones] discovered that the Siri Function did not work as advertised. For example, Plaintiff would ask Siri for directions to a certain location, or to pinpoint a business, and Siri either would not understand what the Plaintiff askes, or, after a long wait, provided the wrong answer,” reads the complaint.
When Apple announced Siri with the iPhone 4S it was clear that the service is still in beta. As the company says on the marketing page for the service, “Siri is currently in beta and we’ll continue to improve it over time”.
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Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld almost two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.