Both companies deny the claims and maintain they followed legal protocol. You can submit a claim online here, and you have until January 4th to do so.
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Plaintiffs, led by Carolyn Levin, said that Nike’s FuelBand wasn’t able to live up to its advertised ability to tracking calories burned, steps & overall activity.
The consumers alleged that Apple and Nike were aware that the fitness tracker was not providing correct data. Attorneys representing the class claim that the fitness app’s inability to function as advertised also breaches the product’s warranty, with Nike to blame.
Although it was a defendant in the suit, Apple does not bear responsibility or any liability for cost or fees to attorneys. Apple, which sold the FuelBand in its stores up until March of this year, will pay nothing. (International Business Times report).
On Friday, through an email, notices were sent to possible class action members, providing the instruction on how they can file for a settlement claim for either a payment of $15 or a gift card of $25 to redeem at a Nike online or retail store. Jay Blahnik a fitness guru, who consulted on the FuelBand creation, came on board at Apple during 2013 and later it was revealed, was a key player in the Apple Watch development related to its health tracking functions.
It comes as no surprise that Nike has since fired a number of employees working on the Nike+ Fuelband team-a few of which, including hardware engineer Ryan Bailey and sensor software expert Jon Gale were quickly picked up by Apple.
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A fairness hearing will take place on November 4, where both companies will further discuss the terms of the settlement, attorney fees, and a specific reward for the leader of the class in the settlement. Although both companies claim that the allegations are false, and that the Nike+ Fuelband is fully operational, they have since agreed to the class action terms “in order to avoid the expense, inconvenience, and distraction of continued litigation”. Certainly many of them present accurate information, but many do not.
