14 DAY TRIAL // After admitting to and fixing a location tracking flaw in iOS, Apple is not given the chance to rest on its laurels and, in fact, is now being forced to pay for damages caused by the bug.
A South Korean lawyer going by the name of Kim Hyeong-seok has sued Apple citing "mental stress" caused by learning of the location-tracking abilities of the iPhone operating system.
Although Apple patched this flaw with an iOS software update, Kim had been using his phone at the time it was exposed.
In his complaint against Apple’s Korean unit he also alleged that the iPhone's tracking of users' locations violated South Korea's constitutional right to privacy, according to npr.org.
As a result of his bold actions, the 36-year-old international trade and business attorney got 1 million won ($945) in settlement fees.
He doesn’t plan to stop here. He wants every South Korean iPhone owner to be compensated for any damages this situation may have caused.
Not surprisingly, Kim has gotten some 16,000 South Koreans to join the class action lawsuit he plans to file against the company in a Seoul court next month.
The suit will not only target Apple’s Korean division, but also the “big Apple” in Cupertino.
"I like Apple," Kim said in a phone interview from his office in the city of Changwon, some 240 miles southeast of Seoul.
He admits, in fact, that he has become afflicted with "Apple mania."
Which is why his legal actions have nothing to do with hating Apple, but rather because it’s a matter of "right or wrong," he said.
Although there are several suits pending a conclusion over the same location-tracking issue, Kim’s is reportedly the first to end with compensations paid by Apple.
The Mac maker’s Korean unit declined to provide any comments on the matter.