Apple Hit With $5 Billion Class Action Lawsuit Over eBooks Availability

A lawsuit filed against Apple in California this week accuses the company of violating the state's false advertising law and other consumer laws, by intentionally misleading customers into thinking that they are purchasing digital e-books from the Apple Books app in perpetuity, when instead they are only purchasing revokable licenses to the books.

General Books Feature
The proposed class action complaint explains that Apple is required to pull a digital book or audiobook from the Apple Books app if and when it loses a license to that content, resulting in the content no longer being available in the app's store. As a result, the complaint alleges that some customers have unexpectedly found that digital books they previously purchased were no longer available to re-download, despite having paid for them. Apple removes books without warning, and without providing refunds, the complaint adds.

As noted in the complaint, the purchase screen in the Apple Books app does not include a link to any terms of service or licensing information. However, in order to set up and use an iPhone, iPad, Mac, or other Apple device, users are required to agree to Apple's various software license agreements, which all state the following:

By using this software in connection with an Apple Account, or other Apple Services, you agree to the applicable terms of service, such as the latest Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions […]

In the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, Apple states the following:

Purchased Content will generally remain available for you to download, redownload, or otherwise access from Apple. Though it is unlikely, subsequent to your purchase, Content may be removed from the Services and become unavailable for further download or access from Apple (for instance, because Apple loses its right from the Content provider to make it available). To ensure your ability to continue enjoying Content, we encourage you to download all purchased Content to a device in your possession and to back it up.

The lawsuit, Morehouse et al v. Apple, Inc., was filed in a U.S. district court in San Jose on Tuesday. The plaintiffs are seeking up to $5 billion in damages, with the proposed class being all individuals who purchased a digital book or audiobook from the Apple Books store within the to-be-determined class period. A judge has yet to be assigned to the case, and it remains to be seen if the class action lawsuit is certified and proceeds to trial.

The complaint was filed by law firm Siri & Glimstad LLP.

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Top Rated Comments

Kar98 Avatar
3 weeks ago
If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing.
Score: 83 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goodcow Avatar
3 weeks ago

In other words, if I agree to terms and conditions they don't apply. Yeesh. Lawyers want money. Nothing more, nothing less.
Nobody is reading through dense, legalistic terms and conditions, yourself included.
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iObama Avatar
3 weeks ago
This is why I buy physical copies of things and obtain digital ones.
Score: 36 Votes (Like | Disagree)
switz Avatar
3 weeks ago
Had a major book set (Harry Potter set) I had purchased in the Apple Book store disappear from all my computers with no notice. The author got her royalties from the purchase, but I lost the ability to read what I had access to. Sucks big time.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aquaporin Avatar
3 weeks ago
This happened to me with Amazon music. I had purchased multiple MP3 albums over the years that disappeared because Amazon lost the license to sell them so I could not redownload them even though I had purchased them.

I did not realize this could be a thing for books too!!
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
3 weeks ago

This happened to me with Amazon music. I had purchased multiple MP3 albums over the years that disappeared because Amazon lost the license to sell them so I could not redownload them even though I had purchased them.

I did not realize this could be a thing for books too!!
This can happen to all digital media. Music, Books, and Movies/TV Shows. If you don't have it physically in your hands, it can be taken away from you. If you buy it in digital format, back it up.

https://www.businessinsider.com/playstation-removes-hundreds-of-purchased-discovery-shows-from-library-2023-12
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)