Class Action Lawsuit Against Apple Over Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities Dismissed - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

Class Action Lawsuit Against Apple Over Meltdown and Spectre Vulnerabilities Dismissed

by

Back in January 2018, a class action lawsuit was filed against Apple for the Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities that affected a wide range of processors from Intel and ARM, including those used in Apple's Macs and iOS devices.

Meltdown and Spectre were hardware-based vulnerabilities designed to take advantage of the speculative execution mechanism of a CPU, allowing hackers to gain access to sensitive information.

meltdownspectre
Apple quickly mitigated Spectre and Meltdown with software patches, but a class action complaint was filed against Apple alleging that Apple knew about the design defects in June 2017 and did not more promptly inform the public.

The complaint also suggested that Apple would not be able to adequately patch Meltdown and Spectre without slowing the performance of its processors by between five and 30 percent, a claim that turned out to be untrue.

As pointed out by AppleInsider, the class action lawsuit against Apple was today dismissed for "lack of standing and failure to state a claim."

According to the ruling, the plaintiffs in the case were not able to allege injury because none of their devices were accessed via Spectre or Meltdown and no degradation in performance was personally experienced by the plaintiffs.

Furthermore, the court said that even if some devices were affected by Meltdown and Spectre as evidenced in some of the benchmarks submitted by the plaintiffs, it does not suggest that all users experienced slower performance, nor were the plaintiffs able to prove that their iOS devices diminished in value.

Given these reasons, Apple's motion to dismiss was granted, though the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are able to provide an amended complaint by January 24, 2019.

Top Rated Comments

SecuritySteve Avatar
99 months ago
Good. It's not Apple's fault they adhered to industry standards regarding vulnerability disclosure. These vulnerabilities were overhyped and still are perceived as far worse than they actually are.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Doctor Q Avatar
99 months ago
Let's sue Apple for announcing new products, which causes those of us who bought their previous products to no longer have the latest models, and to lack any new features they've added. This causes untold pain and suffering, not to mention damage to our reputations among peers. We deserve to be compensated!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
m4mario Avatar
99 months ago
When there is no basis for the case and the plaintiffs are merely trying to take advantage of the legal system to make money, the plantiffs, or at least the lawyers must face a fine. Repetition should face jail time. we can't let people waste the courts time like this.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
oneMadRssn Avatar
99 months ago
When there is no basis for the case and the plaintiffs are merely trying to take advantage of the legal system to make money, the plantiffs, or at least the lawyers must face a fine. Repetition should face jail time. we can't let people waste the courts time like this.
The lawyers and plaintiffs that started this stupid lawsuit should be sued/fined …. for wasting resources of the courts.
What are you guys talking about? No resources or time were wasted.

This case was filed about a year ago, during which time it sat with pretty much no meaningful action other than being consolidated with other cases. Then Apple filed a motion to dismiss, plaintiffs responded, an oral hearing was held that lasted 1 hour and 14 minutes, and the Judge issued an 9-page mostly-boilerplate older dismissing the case.

All in, this case probably used 1.5 hours of Judge time and 3 hours of clerk time. It was efficiently handled. This is an example showing that the system works. (of course there are examples of where it doesn't, but this isn't it at all, not even close).

If Apple wants, they can be the ones to further burden the courts time by seeking costs, but I doubt they will. I bet Apple's legal fees for this one motion were ~$10k, only because they probably hired a big expensive firm that threw a few associates at problem. The same outcome could have been achieved from a small firm for under $5k. It's not worth their time to seek costs.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Starship67 Avatar
99 months ago
Let's sue Apple for announcing new products, which causes those of us who bought their previous products to no longer have the latest models, and to lack any new features they've added. This causes untold pain and suffering, not to mention damage to our reputations among peers. We deserve to be compensated!
I know your joking. The way some of the members on this forum act they believe that. lol
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
99 months ago
Maybe some of the other nonsensical suits against apple will be dismissed as well.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Event Logo

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Wednesday July 29, 2026 11:39 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system that is essentially a mix of tvOS, watchOS, and iOS, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In a report this week, he said the operating system will feature a grid of icons, widgets, and apps, along with customizable clock faces. The new software platform is intended for Apple's long-rumored smart home hub. With built-in facial recognition,...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra: Pre-Orders and Release Date

Thursday July 30, 2026 6:12 am PDT by
Apple has yet to reveal when the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra will be announced and released, but the dates usually follow a familiar pattern. Labor Day is September 7 this year. The last time the holiday fell on that day was in 2020, but the iPhone event that year was delayed until October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the last time Labor Day was on September 7 in a normal year was in ...
Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

iPhone 18 Pro: Twelve Changes Coming to Apple's Next Flagship

Thursday July 30, 2026 3:43 am PDT by
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year,...

🔗 Related Apple News & Rumors

Stay updated with the latest Apple ecosystem news and verified rumors