Apple in Class Action Suit in Korea; 23,000 and Counting
Apple's legal woes have just become more serious in South Korea.
Last month, Apple paid a South Korean lawyer, Kim Hyeong-Suk, the equivalent of $950 dollars as compensation for the iPhone's "amassing of location data without users' consent" and infringing on his privacy in a lawsuit that was filed against the American company on April 26, according to Yonhap news agency.
The Apple branch in Korea may have felt that paying off this sum would've ended the case, but just in a matter of weeks 23,000 iPhone users joined Kim and his law firm for a class action suit against Apple that could end with the tech giant paying millions of dollars in damages.
Kim's law firm, Mirae Law, apparently appointed none other than Kim himself to lead the case and represent the 23,000 others who have joined this private battle over the iPhone's user tracking function, according to the Korea Times.
Mirae Law is charging each client, who should receive 1 million won or $947 dollars if the case is won eventually, 16,900 won or $16 dollars in litigation fees.
Kim, on the other hand, would reportedly receive 20 percent or 200,000 won from each client in an eventual win or 9,000 won in a loss.
Mirae Law in a public statement on Monday said that it would donate part of the income to promote public altruism.
According to the Korea Times article, there is no guarantee for the people signing up against Apple to win the case and many believe that this matter is simply becoming a lucrative business for the lawyer.