Apple may be sued in Brazil for updating the iPad too fast

Apple may be sued in Brazil for updating the iPad too fast

"Apple could be facing a lawsuit in Brazil for updating the third-generation iPad so fast last year.

According to a report from Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Comércio, the Brazilian Institute of Politics and Law Software (IBDI) has targeted the iPad maker for what it says were unfair business practices with the release of the fourth-generation iPad model five months after launching the third-generation model in the country.

In a follow-up, Brazilian news site O Hoje adds that the suit wants Apple to give those who bought third-generation models with the latest versions and/or give buyers half of what they paid. The complaint also seeks to fine Apple a fixed amount for each unit sold.

The Jornal do Comércio report has since come under fire by tech blog Techlinhas, which notes that the IBDI has no knowledge of the complaint in the region.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Up until the fourth-generation iPad, Apple was on an annual release cycle, debuting a new model near the beginning of the year. That changed last October, when Apple released a new version alongside the debut of the iPad Mini. The fourth-generation is nearly indistinguishable from the second- and third-generation iPads (short of the same Retina Display found in the third-gen), though packs a faster processor, improved cameras, newer wireless networking hardware, and Apple's smaller Lightning port.

Apple last week lost the rights to the iPhone name in Brazil, a move that it's currently fighting. Local technology company Gradiente filed for the iPhone naming rights in the country years before Apple's device came to be. However the company didn't put out its own iPhone-branded product until last December when it began selling a line of touch-screen smartphones running Google's Android."