Apple fails in bid to halt US lawsuit

Apple has failed in its bid to dismiss a US lawsuit that claims it disabled the popular FaceTime video conferencing feature on older iPhones to force users to upgrade. 

US district judge, Lucy Koh, has ruled that iPhone 4 and 4S users can pursue US class action claims that Apple intentionally “broke” FaceTime to save money from routing calls through servers owned by Akamai Technologies.

Neither Apple, nor lawyers for the plaintiffs, immediately responded to requests for comment. Apple began using Akamai’s servers after losing a lawsuit in 2012, in which VirnetX Holding claimed that FaceTime technology infringed its patents. Testimony from a 2016 retrial in that case showed that Apple paid Akamai $50m (€42.5m) in one six-month period.