Apple Hit with False Advertising Suit Over 'Breaking Bad' Season Pass

Apple is facing a class action lawsuit in California over false advertising allegations. According to the lawsuit, Apple split the final season of Breaking Bad into two season passes with eight episodes each instead of leaving all 16 episodes together.

Class Action lawsuit claims Apple misled Breaking Bad iTunes subscribersClass Action lawsuit claims Apple misled Breaking Bad iTunes subscribers

The lawsuit claims that Apple's iTunes Store Season Pass wording states that customers will get "every episode in that season," although in this case they're only getting eight episodes before having to pay for the second half. In this instance, that means iTunes Store customers will pay US$22.99 twice to get both halves of the season.

Noam Lazebnik said in his lawsuit,

When a consumer buys a ticket to a football game, he does not have to leave at halftime. When a consumer buys an opera ticket, he does not get kicked out at intermission.

Splitting seasons in half on the iTunes Store isn't something new. Doctor Who, the popular British Sci-Fi series, is has been split in half so customers must pay for both season parts individually. In that case, however, the season 6 and 7 halves are clearly marked as individual subscriptions as Part 1 and Part 2.

Mr. Lazebnik argued that in the case of Breaking Bad season 5, iTunes Store customers were misled into thinking that their $22.99 was getting them all 16 episodes, adding that Apple's own working after paying for a Season Pass stated "they were paying for 'all current and future' episodes of Season 5."

The lawsuit is asking for the same amount back that he, and others that did the same, spent on the season pass.

[Thanks to Gigaom for the heads up]