Cover news reporter Zhang Jie Zeng Jie trainee reporter Liu Kexin
On October 27, "Students Sue Apple without Charger May Win" was a hot search, and the number of readers quickly exceeded 300 million, and the attention was unprecedented. Some people expressed support, hoping that Apple would hear the voice of consumers; others in the industry expressed concern that there was little hope of winning the lawsuit.
It is understood that the litigants are Fang Yixing, Xiao Yingying, Tang Ying, Yu Simin from Beijing University of Chemical Technology and five female students from Donghua University, Lin Jiayue. In May 2021, Fang Yixing of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and members of his team filed an application for filing a case with the Dongcheng District People's Court of Beijing, where Apple Electronics Trading (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is located, requesting that Apple be ordered to deliver the mobile phone charger, bear the liability for breach of contract, pay a liquidated damages of 100 yuan and bear the litigation costs. At present, the case is still in the stage of supplementary evidence and written materials.
Why are these law students filing a lawsuit against Apple? Why doesn't Apple ship chargers to new phones? Cover reporters conducted interviews on all sides. The person in charge of the litigation competition organizer said: "We encourage students who study law to fight for possibilities for everyone through legal channels, and raise empathy into a sense of mission and responsibility. ”
Related topics are over the top search
5 girls group "Legal Pretty Lady" v. Apple
It is understood that Fang Yixing, Xiao Yingying, Tang Ying, Yu Simin and Lin Jiayue from Donghua University of Beijing University of Chemical Technology also participated in the 7th "Small Town Cup" Public Welfare Star Creative Litigation Competition at the same time as participating in the litigation, so they were out of the circle.
According to public information, they are all talented and beautiful, forming a "legal beauty team". Although registration for the 7th "Small Town Cup" Charity Star Creative Litigation Competition only began in September, in May 2021, Fang Yixing of Beijing University of Chemical Technology and its team members filed an application for filing a case with the Dongcheng District People's Court of Beijing, where Apple Electronics Trading (Beijing) Co., Ltd. is located, requesting that Apple be ordered to deliver the mobile phone charger, bear the liability for breach of contract, pay a liquidated damages of 100 yuan and bear the litigation costs. In September this year, the case was heard in accordance with ordinary procedures on the online trial site of the Beijing Internet Court's electronic litigation platform, and the trial lasted for 2 hours. At present, the case is still in the stage of supplementary evidence and written materials.
It is understood that these plaintiffs are in different countries, and often need to overcome the difficulties of jet lag, work together for a long time to study and discuss, and finally promote the process of litigation. Fang said: "Although it is still in the trial process and the whole process has not yet been completed, we will continue to insist. ”
Popular comments from netizens
Among the messages related to this hot search, there is a message that represents the voice of most consumers, receiving nearly 80,000 likes: "I hope to win the lawsuit, buy so many apples, so little support." ”
It is reported that since Apple stopped distributing chargers, such controversy has been endless. As early as January this year, Mr. Yang, a consumer in Xi'an, directly sued Apple in court and filed three litigation claims, namely, ordering the defendant to replace the USB-C to lightning connection cable with a USB-A to lightning connection cable without compensation in accordance with the law; ordering the defendant to provide the plaintiff with a charging adapter that is compatible with the USB-A to lightning connection cable; and the litigation costs of this case were borne by the defendant.
The case caused a sensation at the time, but Apple (Apple Electronics Trading (Beijing) Co., Ltd.) did not appear in court in time and did not respond.
Founder of the Contest:
Encourage students studying law to strive for possibilities for everyone through legal channels
The "Xiaocheng Cup" Public Welfare Star Litigation Creativity Contest, which made this case a hot search, is a long-term legal public welfare activity founded by Shanghai Xiaocheng Law Firm. Through the form of creative litigation, the competition encourages students to pay attention to people's livelihood, devote themselves to public welfare undertakings and legal practice, and safeguard the public interest in the form of private interest litigation.
Wu Chen, director of Shanghai Xiaocheng Law Firm, introduced to the cover news reporter that since 2012, the "Xiaocheng Cup" Public Welfare Star Litigation Creativity Competition (hereinafter referred to as the "Xiaocheng Cup") has been held for seven sessions, and now the eighth activity has been launched. Different from the moot court competition, the "Small Town Cup" adopts the form of "actual combat", and the whole process of filing, investigation and evidence collection, and court hearing requires the participation of students throughout the process. The competition will measure the participating cases from three aspects: one is the value of public welfare; the other is innovation, that is, from the embodiment, induction and summary of life materials, it will be sorted into a case; the third is plasticity, that is, it can become a case in the litigation rules, and the court can file a case.
Wu Chen also told reporters that the Apple litigation case is being tried, and the case will not be evaluated for the time being, but the students found this material and analyzed the unreasonable parts of it very clearly, "If there are no clear provisions in the current law, I believe that some good cases can also promote the legislative process." ”
Talking about the original intention, Wu Chen said that the "public welfare" in the "Small City Cup" Public Welfare Star Litigation Creativity Competition is a different concept from legal public interest litigation. It refers to the realization of public welfare value through private interest litigation, encouraging students to organize from life-related materials into a litigation practice that can change problems and solve problems, and through the legal knowledge they have learned, the possibility of winning the legitimate rights and interests of more people in a rational way. "Whether a case can add leverage to positive energy, such a thing magnified to the effect of benefiting the masses, is a very meaningful thing." We look forward to driving a surface with one point. Wu Chen stressed.
In addition, Wu Chen also appealed to everyone not to conduct a public opinion trial on this case. We encourage students studying law to fight for possibilities through legal channels, and to elevate empathy into a sense of mission and responsibility. However, if public opinion prematurely comments on the victory or defeat, then it is also a bad influence on the normal progress of judicial activities, and this is not our original intention.
It is understood that this time the Popular Apple Lawsuit is not the only case out of the circle. In 2019, a student of East China University of Political Science and Law sued Disney for "forbidding food to enter the park" and other regulations that did not clearly inform tourists when purchasing tickets, infringing on their legitimate rights and interests, and was also one of the cases of the fifth "Small Town Cup" litigation competition. The lawsuit was later settled through mediation, and Disney also changed the rules of admission to the park.
"At that time, it also took courage to file this lawsuit, many tourists were silently accepting the rules, and the students filed the lawsuit in the hope of telling the public that some rights should be respected." The use of legal litigation in a rational way to protect rights is also a positive way to advocate. ”
Apple's response:
Not equipped with a charger is to achieve environmental protection and low-carbon goals
As early as October 14, 2020, Beijing time, it was announced at Apple's new product conference that the four new mobile phones of the iPhone 12 series did not randomly give headphones and chargers. This move triggered a strong complaint from Apple users.
Apple's official website shows that the new mobile phone does not ship chargers and headphones
The reporter inquired about a flagship store of Apple products and found that there was a reminder about the packaging in the purchase instructions of the iPhone 12 sales page, the iPhone no longer comes with a power adapter and EarPods, and a USB-C to lightning cable is included in the box. Subsequently, the reporter consulted the store's customer service as a consumer, and got a reply that "after the (iPhone) 12 conference, all the new packaged iPhones did not have charging heads and headphones." When asked why this treatment was made, the customer service said that apple's official website has issued a statement that in order to achieve the goal of environmental protection and low carbon, iPhone mobile phones will no longer come with power adapters and EarPods wired headphones. Use your existing Apple power adapters and headphones, or purchase these accessories separately.
The reporter then found the "Apple Legal" section on Apple's official website according to customer service reminders, and submitted feedback, expressing the legal confusion caused by no longer equipping the power adapter from the iPhone 12 series, and got a reply instantly: "We can't reply to you personally, but please note that your information has been received, and the iPhone team will review your information." If we need to follow up on your ideas for improving your iPhone, we will contact you directly. ”
As of press time, I have not received a call or letter from Apple.
Similar cases:
Apple was fined 13 million yuan by the Brazilian Consumer Association
Internationally, Apple has also been sued for accessories. Since the release of the iPhone 12 series in 2020, Apple no longer comes with power adapters and headphones. If consumers need it, they need to buy it separately. After the implementation of this regulation, Apple has also caused controversy in Brazil and France.
In 2020, Apple was fined $2 million, about 13 million yuan, by the consumer protection agency Procon-SP in Brazil for not donating power adapters, but Apple strongly opposed this and refused to rectify it. Fang Yixing, one of the parties to the lawsuit, forwarded the news on Weibo in September this year.
This year's iPhone 13 also does not come with a power adapter, according to media reports, Apple may once again face a high fine. On the other hand, France has caused controversy when it was sold in France because the iPhone 12 did not come with wired headphones. But soon, Apple adjusted the iPhone-related accessories sold in France, because France had stipulated in 2010 that mobile phones could not be sold without accessories that could limit the effects of radio radiation in the communication process.
The reporter inquired on Apple's official website that the iPhone 13 released this year still comes with headphones in France, the 128GB iPhone 13 Pro is priced at 1159 euros in France, and in the EU countries that do not come with headphones, Italy and Portugal, the same product is priced at 1189 euros and 1179 euros respectively.
What the lawyer says:
The greatest significance of the case is not to win the case, but to raise awareness of rights protection
Can these law students win? There are also different voices in the legal profession. Some lawyers believe that the possibility of winning the lawsuit is unlikely, but there are also lawyers who file lawsuits to improve the awareness of consumer rights and interests of consumers across the country.
Duan Lin, an arbitrator at the Chengdu Arbitration Commission and a lawyer at Beijing ProMed Law Firm, said of the odds of winning the "law student's lawsuit against Apple" that any legal subject has the right to sue, "but no one can predict the odds." This involves a lot of details, such as Apple's detailed rules, and whether there is any conflict with the relevant provisions of Chinese law. Differences in the laws of the two countries in this field, etc."
Wang Zhen, a lawyer practicing in Shanghai, analyzed that the reason why Apple dared to do this must be to do sufficient legal analysis and coping strategies. If you sue from the contract law alone, this path has little chance of winning. "When this consumer purchased an Apple phone, did Apple fully disclose the information without a charger in the contract? If this information is disclosed and the consumer knows and concludes the transaction, it is equivalent to accepting the terms of the contract. In this case, it is not a good idea to sue Apple in the form of a civil dispute. ”
Lawyer Li Ping of Sichuan Wenshan Law Firm further analyzed that the focus of the dispute in this case is whether the power adapter is a slave to the mobile phone, and whether Apple's standard clause of "no longer accompanying the power adapter" is effective. According to Article 320 of the Civil Code, where the subject matter is transferred, the accessory is transferred with the subject matter, unless otherwise agreed by the parties. The power adapter is independent of the main product mobile phone, but in terms of function, it can help it improve the charging efficiency, and the power adapter cannot be used as an electrical appliance alone, and the main product mobile phone has a certain degree of combination relationship, so the relationship between the two can be characterized as the main and slave. Secondly, the description of the packaging content on Apple's official website and the product packaging box specifically state that the power adapter is no longer included. Because Apple has a legal obligation to deliver its accessories, it is critical that the statement "no longer ship with a power adapter" will come into effect.
Lawyer Li Ping mentioned that judging from the pictures and texts on Apple's official website, Apple did not bold or underline the explanation of "no longer accompanying the power adapter", and it is difficult to determine that Apple has fulfilled the obligation of prompt explanation on the agreement on the exemption of statutory obligations in the sales contract. However, if the party providing the standard terms in accordance with the provisions of Article 496 of the Civil Code fails to perform the obligation of prompting or explaining, causing the other party to fail to pay attention to or understand the terms in which it has a major interest, the other party may claim that the terms do not become the content of the contract. Whether the court will characterize the clause "no longer accompany the power adapter" as a "clause with a significant interest in the other party" remains uncertain. "Based on the above information, we rule out the possibility of fraud in the sales process of Apple mobile phones. The students in this case are largely prone to losing the case. ”
Nevertheless, in Li Ping's view, the greatest significance of this case is not to win the case, but to improve the awareness of consumer rights and interests of consumers across the country through this behavior, and to speak out bravely when encountering unreasonable things.
Wang Zhen suggested that it is preferable from the perspective of public interest litigation, arguing that Apple did not have a charger (as an essential accessory for mobile phones) when selling Apple mobile phones in China, which is an unfair treatment of Chinese consumers, and using its dominant position to impose unequal conditions on consumers is equivalent to not fulfilling the obligation to treat consumers fairly, and the litigation path from this idea is more desirable.
Zhao Fuwei, deputy director of the Crime and Justice Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law and Beijing TCO Law Firm, also believes that students may not win the lawsuit, first of all because of the validity of the contract. In his view, Xiaomi, Meizu and other companies are very good, they provide 3 kinds of packages for consumers to choose when selling their mobile phone products, including chargers, without chargers, including mobile phone chargers and headphones, the three package prices are different, giving consumers the right to choose independently. This is obviously different from Apple's separate sales, and Apple should use its brains more from the convenience of consumers.
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