Costco Judgment Upheld in False-Ad Suit Over Apple AirPods

Costco Wholesale Corp. is entitled to judgment in its favor in a suit alleging it misled Apple AirPods buyers about charging capabilities because no reasonable consumer would think the advertised earbuds included a case for wireless charging, the Ninth Circuit said.

Jason Thomas alleged he bought earbuds advertised as the latest version of the 2nd generation Apple AirPods that could be charged wirelessly, but were instead an “unknown hybrid mix” that lacked wireless charging capability.

Thomas incorrectly believed that all 2nd generation and later AirPods automatically came with a case capable of wireless charging, and so did the authors of ...