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Court: iPod Can't Be Faulted for Hearing Loss

Appeal decision finds nothing wrong with enabling high volume

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 31, 2009 3:37 PM CST

(Newser) – Apple has won an appeals court decision in a case in which plaintiffs argued that the iPod endangered people's hearing. The court found no merit to the argument, ComputerWorld reports. Critics of the iPod didn't make the case that anyone's hearing had been damaged, only that the iPod's ability to crank music loudly right into people's ears posed an unacceptable risk.

“The plaintiffs admit that the iPod has an 'ordinary purpose of listening to music,' and nothing they allege suggests iPods are unsafe for that use or defective,” the ruling reads. What’s more, they don’t even “allege that they, or any others, have suffered or are substantially certain to suffer inevitable hearing loss.”

iPod users.
iPod users.   (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="source">©</a><a href="http://flickr.com/search/people/?m=name&q=Ed Yourdon" target="source">Ed Yourdon</a>)
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Statements suggest only that users have the option of using an iPod in a risky manner, not that the product lacks any minimum level of quality. - US Court of Appeals for the Ninth District

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 22 comments
DontLikeYou___
Jan 2, 2010 4:00 AM CST
No. But liberals must "protect" us with their silly laws. I despise them.
prowlerzee
Jan 1, 2010 10:11 AM CST
Well, I can't tell one music earpiece thingee from another but every time I hear the scratchy unwelcome sounds bleeding out into our mutual airwaves I smile, thinking of how the ignorant, inconsiderate ASS blasting it to whatever its full volume is will pay the price later on with his hearing. This lawsuit warms my heart in more ways than one. A. I was right and the asses will ruin their ears, and B. the asses won't get a dime for their own stupidity.
DontLikeYou___
Jan 1, 2010 10:03 AM CST
I'm for gun control. Hold it steady, aim, shoot. Control.
 

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