SEATTLE, July 16, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A federal judge today appointed Hagens Berman co-lead counsel in a class-action lawsuit brought by consumers against a number of smartphone manufacturers, including HTC Corporation (TWSE:2498), HTC America, Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KSE:005930.KS) alleging that millions of smart phones manufactured by the defendants included key logging software developed by Carrier IQ Inc. ("CIQ").
Hagens Berman's complaint, filed Dec. 1, 2012, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Carrier IQ's software, which is installed on millions of Android-based smartphones, intercepts and records users' key strokes – including email and text messages – without their permission.
"We are pleased the court agreed with our proposed structure for this litigation," said Steve Berman, managing partner for Hagens Berman. "We intend to prove that CIQ and the other defendants installed software that captured sensitive information and violated the privacy of smartphone users across the United States."
The allegations were first revealed last November when software developer Trevor Eckhart published a video blog showing CIQ software recording keystrokes, including information sent to secure websites using the HTTPS security protocols. Hagens Berman's complaint alleges that the CIQ software violates federal wiretapping laws.
United States District Judge Edward M. Chen selected Hagens Berman and Pearson Simon as co-lead counsel to represent a proposed class of consumers who own or owned a smartphone with the Carrier IQ software installed. The judge also appointed an executive committee consisting of four additional law firms.
In his order appointing Hagens Berman co-lead counsel, the judge noted that Hagens Berman and Person Simon, "present an especially impressive set of qualifications with broad and deep experience in handling large, complex litigation, and proven resources to litigate this large, complex class action."
More information about this case is available at www.hbsslaw.com/ciq.
Seattle-based Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP is a nationwide class-action law firm with offices in ten cities. Founded in 1993, the firm's mission is to represent plaintiffs in class actions and multi-party, large-scale litigation that has the potential to protect the rights of investors, consumers, workers, whistleblowers, inventors and the environment. The National Law Journal has rated Hagens Berman as one of the top plaintiffs' firms in the country four out of the last five years. More information about the firm is available at www.hbsslaw.com, and the firm's class-action blog is at www.classactionlawtoday.com.
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