Business Week reports that US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal invited plaintiffs’ lawyers in the case to pursue sanctions against Apple at a hearing in San Jose yesterday.

Information sharing

The issue is connected to a lawsuit earlier this month in which Apple was accused of collecting data on the locations of customers through their iPhone even if the device’s geo-location feature was turned off, and sharing information with third partiers.
Judge Grewal told Apple to submit detailed accounts of how it collected and evaluated documents it was required to produce for the plaintiffs. According to the article, Apple was required to identify search terms it used, the dates of searches, individuals subject to the searches, and how many documents it turned up. Apple produced more than 2,000 additional documents.

Documents

Apple was then unsuccessful in dismissing the case after US District Judge Lucy Koh - who is handling the case with Grewal - said she was ‘disturbed’ that Apple relied on documents that it was required, and failed, to disclose to lawyers for the customers.
Apple lawyer Ashlie Beringer yesterday said that the documents ‘absolutely should’ve been collected and they were not’.