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Steve Jobs, the chief executive of Apple, has been taken to task for making allegedly misleading claims in one of his high-profile product launches, and faces the prospect of being called to defend himself in a California court.
A lawsuit accuses Apple of false marketing and advertising over one of the latest versions of its iMac desktop computer, saying that it is wrongly claiming that the screen can display "millions of colours".
The suit claims "Apple intentionally concealed and/or suppressed the above facts with the intent to defraud".
A Texas woman, Chandra Sanders, who bought an iMac, is named as the plaintiff and her lawyers are expecting to attract many thousands of other Apple customers and to turn the lawsuit into a class action that could net millions of dollars in compensation and punitive damages.
At August's launch of two new iMac computers, Mr Jobs said: "Our customers have told us that they love the new glossy displays. For photos, for movies they look way better on these glossy, beautiful, crisp displays."
The lawsuit, though, alleges that he failed to differentiate between the new 24-inch screen, which does as Mr Jobs claims, and the 20-inch screen, which actually displays 262,144 colours.
Apple said that it does not comment on pending legal actions and declined to discuss the claims.
- THE INDEPENDENT
