April 3, 2025 – A significant collective lawsuit has been filed against Apple Inc. in California, accusing the tech giant of violating false advertising laws and seeking compensation of up to $5 billion, as reported yesterday by tech news outlet MacRumors.
The lawsuit, submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose this Tuesday, alleges that Apple has been misrepresenting the nature of purchases made through its Apple Books app. Consumers were purportedly misled to believe they were acquiring perpetual ownership of digital books, whereas in reality, they only received licenses that could be unilaterally revoked by Apple.
Upon termination of agreements between Apple and content providers, the affected books would disappear from the app store. Multiple users have reported that e-books they had previously purchased suddenly became unavailable for re-download, without any compensation from Apple. The complaint specifically highlights that the licensing terms were not disclosed on the purchase interface but were buried within the “Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions” that users agree to upon activating their devices.
Apple acknowledges in its service terms that while “purchased content is generally available for re-download,” there is a possibility of content removal due to licensing termination, advising users to back up their purchases.
The law firm representing the plaintiffs, Siri & Glimstad, argues that such “after-the-fact disclaimers” do not exempt Apple from responsibility for false advertising. The proposed class action lawsuit seeks to cover all users who purchased content through Apple Books within a specified period, with a potential claim for damages capped at $5 billion.
At present, no judge has been assigned to hear the case, and the outcome of the class certification process is awaited. This is the fourth lawsuit related to digital content licensing that Apple has faced in the past three years.
