Apple has agreed to pay $53m to resolve a class-action suit in connection with warranties for its iPhone and iPod touch screen devices.
According to a joint filing in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple will pay $300 depending on the device, to more than 153,000 owners, who were earlier denied warranty coverage even when Apple’s ‘liquid damage policy’ was still valid.
Further, the eligible customers for the settlement funds include customers whose warranty claims for iPhones were denied beforeDecember 31, 2009, as per Apple’s liquid damage policy and claims for iPod Touches that were rejected before June 2010.
Under the earlier warranty policy, the iPhone maker had installed a liquid submersion indicator (LSI), which has been developed from a water contact indicator tape manufactured by 3M, on its devices.
Lawyers said that the liquid submersion indicators on iPhones and iPods could be triggered by moisture during normal use and wrongly indicated devices had been damaged by liquid spills or submersion, problems that were barred from coverage under the company’s warranty.
