Apple, 38 AirTag Plaintiffs Haven’t Resolved Their Dispute Despite 2 Mediations: Report
Apple and the 38 plaintiffs seeking to hold the company accountable for the growing use of the AirTag as a stalking device (see 2311140041) attended private mediation April 27 and a follow-up mediation session Aug. 31, “and have been in…
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contact with the mediator in between and after those sessions,” said the parties’ joint case management report Friday (docket 3:22-cv-07668) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. The parties haven’t reached a resolution, said the report. The plaintiffs’ “primary concern” in the litigation “is to obtain injunctive relief that remedies the immediate and ongoing risks to safety caused by the AirTag as it currently operates,” it said. But finding solutions “involves working with complex technology not only of the AirTag product but also other Apple products and IP, and even with technology of non-parties,” it said. Because of these “issues of scope,” and “in light of the unique nature of the relief sought,” the plaintiffs sought to begin an early mediation process so that they could begin to evaluate how the safety needs of the class “may best be protected in light of Apple’s existing technology,” it said. Another goal of early mediation was to identify “all stakeholders within Apple’s organization who would need to participate in the development and implementation of changes, and accordingly identify areas of alignment and find achievable solutions in as expeditious a manner as possible,” it said. The report was a forerunner to the case management videoconference that the court scheduled for Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. PST.