Nike Inc. and Apple Inc. agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that alleged the companies misled consumers about the accuracy of the Nike+ FuelBand device. Consumers who purchased the fitness tracker between January 19, 2012, and June 17, 2015, are eligible for a partial refund of a $25 Nike gift card or $15 check, according to a website for the settlement.
The website address is NikeFuelBandSettlement.com.
The law firms that sued on behalf of the class members will apply to the court for an award of $2.4 million in attorneys’ fees and costs. Nike will be responsible for the settlement payments, according to the terms of the settlement.
The plaintiffs alleged that both Nike and Apple made false claims about the fitness tracker's ability to track steps, calories and NikeFuel points. In addition, the lawsuit alleged that the companies failed to properly follow through with the terms of the product's warranty. The plaintiffs were able to discover the fault by comparing FuelBand to readings on other fitness trackers.
Both companies deny the claims, but, according to the settlement, they agreed to the class action terms “in order to avoid the expense, inconvenience and distraction of continued litigation.”
Nike and Apple teamed up in 2006 to develop the Nike+ iPod, the first in a series of sports and music products between the two companies. The FuelBand was introduced in 2012 and was among the early offerings in the fitness wearables category, now led by Fitbit.
Last spring, Nike began to move away from developing fitness-tracking hardware. While the Nike+ FuelBand is still available for purchase, the company hasn’t come out with a new edition in some time, and it laid off much of the device’s engineering staff last spring.
his year, the company dropped “Band” from the Nike Fuel app name, further distancing the company from its device. In March, Nike announced that users of its Nike+ Running app will now be able to pull data from other fitness devices made by Garmin, TomTom, Wahoo Fitness and Netpulse. The Nike+ app is now among the feature components of the Apple Watch, which went on sale earlier this year.
