Apple agreed to pay $ 18 million to settle the lawsuit accusing it of deliberately “damaging” FaceTime

In court held on Monday, Apple agreed to divide $ 18 million in fines for plaintiffs. They are the ones who sued Apple for disabling FaceTime on their iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s in 2014.

The deal included the opening of a $ 18 million joint fund, or nearly 30% of the average total damage estimated by American economist and policy consultant Justine S. Hastings. Plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate that each winner will receive 3 USD / device although the amount may increase. The condition for receiving compensation is that older iPhone devices like their iPhone 4 and 4s must be running iOS 6 and not yet jailbroken.

The two representatives of the lawsuit, Christina Grace and Ken Potter, are expected to receive a compensation of $ 7.5 thousand. Meanwhile, the group of lawyers representing the class action will receive 30% of the amount of the compensation, equivalent to USD 5.4 million for attorney fees and USD 1.1 million for reimbursement of expenses incurred.

Apple’s settlement was made amid a lawsuit that lasted more than three years. And those who sue Apple continue to pursue the case to the end.

FaceTime launched in 2010 as an online TV technology for iPhones. At the time, Apple used two methods of transferring audio and video data between multiple devices. First Apple uses a direct peer-to-peer (P2P) connection and then a third-party server-based forwarding method. FaceTime calls then used Akamai’s server, costing Apple a lot more than P2P technology.

However, it was not until 2012 when Apple’s P2P technology was discovered to infringe on patents owned by VirentX. The court then ruled that Apple must stop using direct connection protocols and redirect FaceTime calls through third-party forwarding servers. And of course this makes Apple leaders stand still because of the cost.

To address server cost issues, Apple developed its new peer-to-peer protocol and introduced it on iOS 7, launched in 2013. At the time, a portion of iPhone 4 and 4s owners. not ready to upgrade from iOS 6 to iOS 7 because of the new operating system that causes errors on old devices, especially FaceTime. This is explained because Apple wants users to restrict the use of the old connection method on iOS 6 using Akamai’s server.

That’s why many people believe that Apple has tried to “destroy” FaceTime to encourage users to upgrade to iOS 7. Meanwhile, Apple blames compatibility issues when users want to use FaceTime. Firstly, it’s best to upgrade to iOS 7.

The defendant, Apple, accepted the case until January 202020 before agreeing to the settlement.

Refer to AppleInsider