Mikey Campbell
Following in the footsteps of Italian regulators, a nonprofit consumer protection group in Belgium has taken issue with Apple's advertised product warranties, while a Russian rail company has filed suit over an alleged trademark violation.
Belgium AppleCare
After sorting out issues relating to extended warranties in Italy with a final $264,000 fine, Apple on Tuesday was hit with another complaint from a European consumer advocate group, this time from Belgium.
Citing the Italian case as precedent, Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats filed a complaint on Monday, claiming the way in which Apple markets its AppleCare warranties to Belgian consumers is improper according to EU law, reports TechCrunch.
The European Union mandates that all consumer electronics purchases in the region be backed by a two-year warranty from the manufacturer, a sticking point for Apple which only offers a limited one-year warranty for its products. In March of 2012, Test-Aankoop/Test-Achats joined forces with ten other groups to force Apple to change its policies, but the petitions went unrecognized resulting in the watchdog's complaint.
In its case with Italian authorities, Apple modified its warranty labeling both on its website and on physical display boxes to better inform customers that they were entitled to a two-year warranty per EU law. Italy initially fined the company 900,000 euros, or $1.2 million, in 2011 for what it considered to be "unfair commercial practices."
While Apple currently has a webpage on the Belgium Online Apple Store dedicated to informing European customers of their warranty rights, the link is located in a small footnote on the AppleCare Protection Plan page.
Russian Railways Suit
In addition to the Belgian complaint, Apple was hit with a suit from Russian Railways on Monday in which the transportation company is claiming damages of 2 million rubles, or $65,000, for alleged trademark infringement.
Certified "RZD" trademark. | Source: FISPAccording to a via TechCrunch) regarding the complaint, the Moscow-based Russian Railways is claiming its Trademark No. 341333 was infringed when pictures of the image were posted on the "online Apple Store." A check with the Russian Federation's Federal Service for Intellectual Property, Patents and Trademarks (FIPS), the trademark in question is the red and white "RZD" logo that was registered and published in 2008.
The statement's wording is unclear, but Russian Railways could be referring to app icons seen in the App Store which may bear the RZD logo without permission.
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Charles Martin
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34 Comments
The statement's wording is unclear, but Russian Railways could be referring to app icons seen in the App Store which may bear the RZD logo without permission.
This would be the fault of the respective developers and not Apple, correct? Should it be the case, of course.
The description of the copyright claim is a bit vague... I blame AppleInsider.
the EU warranties item needs to be pushed. Other countries have the same type of requirements. NZ is potentially even longer, depending on how you take the vaguely worded consumer law, but apple still ignores it with their 1year rubbish. Unfortunately a lot of companies flout that law, and there appears to be little desire to take legal action on the companies.
EU mandate is 'warranty' by seller, not manufacturer. All these complaints are basically that Apple doesn't cater to the lazy and stupid and spell out what those 'in addition to protections provided by local laws' protections mean. I say Apple just kill all Apple programs in the EU. Lets see what happens when someone's totally functioning mic in the iPhone they bought at a carrier store fails at 11 months in and local law says they have to prove it wasn't working when they bought it tries to get a free replacement from Apple. Won't happen but it would have under Apple's voluntary 1 year manufacturer's program. I say they refuse to let folks buy service parts even. Let them buy retail to replace it.
Lets pick on Apple, not the developer. They know that Apple has Billions and will pay out.