SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) - Inadequate standing will stop a court from finding whether third parties that license mobile apps illegally collected personal information about consumers who own Apple devices, a federal judge found.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh found that the plaintiffs in the consolidated action failed to allege that they suffered an actual injury, and that is a sufficient basis to dismiss the entire complaint.
The plaintiffs did not identify whether they used iPads, iPhones or iPod Touch, all of which are the subject of this litigation; did not identify which defendant accessed or tracked their personal information; and did not identify how they were harmed as a result, according to the Sept. 20 ruling.
Koh also said she could not find a causal chain since the plaintiffs did not accuse Apple of misappropriating their data, and since they failed that company from other "mobile industry defendants," including Admob, Pinch Media and Quattro Wireless
The plaintiffs' only allegation is that Apple "designed a platform in which mobile industry defendants and absent app developers could possibly engage in harmful acts," Koh wrote, adding that such speculative allegations do not suffice to establish Article III standing.
Koh granted leave to amend after dismissing for lack of standing and noting other deficiencies in the complaint, such as the fact that Apple's privacy agreements might prohibit the plaintiffs from pursuing this litigation.
The eight mobile industry defendants were Admob, Flurry, Mobclix, Pinch Media, Trafficmarketplace.com, Mellenial Media, AdMarval and Quattro Wireless.
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