AT&T has settled a class action lawsuit today that will mean that the carrier must unlock all phones locked to their network as long as customers meet a certain set of criteria.
Users of pre-paid phones must “provide proof of purchase of their locked handset,” while any contracted user must have “completed a minimum of 90 days of active service,” with the account remaining in good standing.
There is one caveat, however: “Handsets for which AT&T has an exclusive sales arrangement with a manufacturer of less than 10 months will have to wait until the 10-month period expires before they can receive an unlocking code.”
That means that any phone for which AT&T has an exclusivity pact of over 10 months (namely the Apple iPhone and BlackBerry Bold 9000), then it does not have to issue an unlock code.
The final approval hearing for the settlement is on July 2nd. You can find more information at www.attlockinglawsuits.com.
Result for: class action lawsuit
In late April, Sony was sued in California over its recent firmware update that removed the “OtherOS” feature of the PlayStation 3, a feature that had allowed for the installation of Linux on an HDD partition.
This week, two more class action lawsuits have been filed against the company, one in Georgia and the other in California.
Both cases claim that Sony has made features consumers paid for “inoperable” with the release of firmware version 3.21. The firmware update is “voluntary,” but those that do not cannot sign into the PlayStation Network, or play their games online.
Both suits also state that Sony did not properly disclose that they reserved the right to remove built-in features, and that any removal of the “OtherOS” feature was not disclosed in the PS3 TOS, or SSLA (System Software License Agreement).
The second suit specifically says plaintiffs “lost money by purchasing a PS3 without receiving the benefit of their bargain because the product is not what it was claimed to be - a game console that would provide both the Other OS feature and gaming functions.”
The class action suits include anyone who purchased the PS3 console between November 17th, 2006 and March 27th, 2010.
Result for: class action lawsuit
When a game modder found a piece of locked away code within the 2004 blockbuster Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and produced patches to unlock it, who would have thought it would cost Take-Two and its insurers $20 million. Since the patch was released, Rockstar became the target of politicians such as Hillary Clinton, and the game was given an AO (Adult Only) rating instead of it’s previous M rating due to the “strong sexual content” it then included.
Store shelves were re-stocked with copies of the game that did not include the unlockable code, which then carried the M rating. Now, five years after the this happened, Take-Two and its insurers have agreed to pay $20 million ($4,915,000 from Take-Two and $15,200,000 from its insurers) to settle a class action lawsuit that stemmed from the controversy.
“We are pleased to have reached this settlement, which represents another important step forward for the company,” said Strauss Zelnick, chairman of Take-Two, in a brief statement.
