Apple, Epson face French legal complaints over allegedly shortening life of products

SEIKO EPSON

28/12/2017 16:51

PARIS, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Smartphone maker Apple  AAPL.O  
and Japanese printer company Epson  6724.T  are facing legal 
complaints in France over allegedly speeding up the ageing 
process of their products to stimulate demand. 
    A French consumer association called "HOP" -- standing for 
"Stop Planned Obsolescence" -- filed preliminary, legal 
complaints in court against the two groups over the charges. 
    HOP said it filed its complaint against Apple in Paris on 
Wednesday. A prosecutor opened an investigation into Epson last 
month, a judicial source said on Thursday, following a complaint 
filed in September by HOP in a court in the Paris suburb of 
Nanterre. 
    Laetitia Vasseur, co-founder of HOP, told Reuters the aim of 
both complaints was to apply the French consumer law, which was 
modified in 2015 to include the notion of planned obsolescence. 
    Apple is already facing lawsuits in the United States over 
accusations of having defrauded iPhone users by slowing down 
devices without warning to compensate for poor battery 
performance.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N1OQ16A 
    These lawsuits came after Apple said last week that 
operating system updates released since "last year" for the 
iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, iPhone SE and iPhone 7 included a feature 
"to smooth out" power supply from batteries that are cold, old 
or low on charge. 
    Phones without the adjustment would shut down abruptly 
because of a precaution designed to prevent components from 
getting fried, Apple said. 
    Under French law, companies risk fines of up to 5 percent of 
their annual sales for deliberately shortening the life of their 
products to spur demand to replace them.  
    A spokeswoman for Epson France said Epson denied the charges 
made against it by the HOP association. She added that Epson was 
working with authorities on the matter and that the quality of 
its products was of the utmost importance for the company. 
    Officials for Apple France could not be immediately reached 
for comment. 
     
 
 (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Emmanuel Jarry and Gwenaelle 
Barzic; Editing by Mathieu Rosemain and David Evans) 
 ((sudip.kargupta@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 53 84; Reuters 
Messaging: sudip.kargupta.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: APPLE BATTERIES/FRANCE