Samsung is facing a class action lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California. The suit alleges the owners of older Samsung Smart TVs lost access to YouTube.
The plaintiff is Lance Baird. He states that it was in June 2017, when Samsung Smart TVs produced in 2013 and during earlier years lost access to the YouTube app.
Attorney David R. Ongaro of Ongaro PC. is representing the plaintiff.
The complaint notes that consumers who own these Smart TVs weren’t informed that their TVs might lose access to YouTube. The plaintiff aims to make the defendant take certain steps to solve this problem. He says the owners of older Samsung Smart TVs should have the opportunity of using YouTube again.
It was in 2010 when the defendant started the marketing campaign concerning its Smart TVs. According to their advertisement, these TVs could access streaming services. Among them was YouTube as well. In addition, it was possible to stream any of the services with the help of its own application. It’s worth noting that all these apps were available in Samsung’s SmartHub platform.
Details concerning Samsung class action lawsuit
The plaintiff also says the company’s promotional materials produced between 2001 and 2012 mentioned that these Smart TVs provided access to YouTube. Samsung was also using logos for YouTube at that time. However, there was no information in their marketing materials that Samsung Smart TVs may once lose access to YouTube, as the complaint notes.
Furthermore, the plaintiff refers to what happened in 2013, when there was an issue connected with Smart TVs. He pointed out that Smart TVs produced before 2013 came with a Flash-based application programming interface used for video streaming. Soon, the defendant together with other companies substituted Flash-based application with a new one, which was using HTML5.
According to the class action lawsuit, the consequence of changing Flash-based application was that Samsung Smart TVs could no longer access YouTube.
YouTube made an announcement that its Flash-based application became unavailable on June 26, 2017. This happened when YouTube began using HTML5.
The announcement also says purchasers of Smart TVs produced in 2012 and earlier can go on watching YouTube. To achieve this goal, they just need to attach a streaming stick to their TV’s HDMI input. Another option, in this case, is upgrading to a new TV, but the plaintiff asserts this is not cheap at all. The price may be more than $1000.
It’s essential to point out that a lot of Samsung Smart TV users made complaints on online forums concerning the loss of access to YouTube app. However, Samsung simply refers to YouTube, as the plaintiff claims.
What the lawsuit seeks
Baird is seeking to represent a Class of any person (residing in the U.S) who bought new and still owns a Samsung Smart TV, which lost access to YouTube in June 2017. Additionally, the plaintiff is proposing 27 subclasses which will include Class Member of other states as well.
The plaintiff is seeking the following: the award of actual, statutory and punitive damages. He is also asking the court to make Samsung restore access to YouTube in affected Smart TVs and seeks reimbursement of attorney fees and court costs.
