Apple faces lawsuit over alleged defective iPod Nano

Apple Computer Inc. is facing legal action from an aggrieved American consumer over alleged problems with the iPod Nano screens. The lawsuit alleges that Apple launched the music player despite knowing its design would limit its life.

The legal action follows a rash of complaints from iPod Nano users who reported cracked and scratched screens.

Apple said a bad batch of Nanos had caused those problems and denied the device was more likely to scratch than other models of the popular player.

Commenting on the lawsuit, Apple said: "We do not comment on pending litigation," reports BBC.

Apple admitted in late September that some iPod nano screens cracked too easily, but blamed that separate issue on vendor quality problems and said it had occurred in less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the nanos sold at that point.

Apple's iPod has a share of about 75 percent of the U.S. market for MP3 players.

The plaintiff named in the California lawsuit, Jason Tomczak, bought a nano in September. He said it quickly became so scratched he could not view the screen.

Apple replaced that device because of a battery problem, but the complaint claims the replacement nano also became so scratched that Tomczak decided to return it.

Because Tomczak and other complainants were required to pay a $25 fee to return the nano, the proposed class action suit seeks the return of those fees along with the device's original cost and several other forms of damages.

The suit, filed by law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, says Apple has "failed to remedy the problem in any meaningful way" and claims Apple deleted postings on its Web site that relate to the scratching problem, informs Reuters.

P.T.