Apple has been cleared of the last litigious claims it was interfering with text messages being sent to Android devices, after the users switched from using an iPhone. After the
class action suit over the lost iMessages was not allowed to proceed as suit members were not hurt by any "contractual breach or interference," three plaintiffs remained in the suit, but their case has also been dismissed by Judge Lucy Koh in a single-paragraph order.
The
complaint from Bouakhay Joy Backhaut, husband Adam Backhaut, and friend Kenneth Morris alleged the three switched from iOS to Android smartphones in 2012,
reports Business Insider, with text messages sent to the same numbers no longer passing through to the mobile devices. The three claimed this was a violation of the Federal Wire Tap Act.
While Apple denied the allegations in the suit, the issue of messages being stuck in the iMessage system after changing smartphones was a real problem. Apple issued a
web-based tool late last year to deregister phone numbers from iMessage, which fixed the issue.
In the case specifically, Apple requested for the case to be dismissed after it discovered two of the three named plaintiffs no longer owned their old iPhones at the time the suit was filed, meaning they were unable to demonstrate their issue to the court. One plaintiff also requested to be dismissed as a "named plaintiff" in the suit.
Koh's brief order, published yesterday, grants Apple's motion for a summary judgment, and the clerk's closure of the file.
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