A year after being sued for laptop malfunctions, Lenovo settles US Ideapad lawsuit for $70 million.
Chinese personal computer giant Lenovo has settled the US Ideapad lawsuit for $70 million after a year of deliberation. The company will have to shell $49 milliom towards the repair of the faulty Lenovo Ideapad laptops sold in the US. It will also have to spend $20 million in cash refunds and credit as part of the settlement, according to US District Court for the Central District of California.
It was in February 2013 that Garrett Kacsuta, the owner of one of the faulty Lenovo IdeaPads in the US, filed a lawsuit against Lenovo’s US subsidiary, claiming “a design defect that affected the WiFi component of the computers.”
At a time when Lenovo is in stiff competition with Apple and has plans to surpass the company in the US market, the settlement should serve as an opportunity for the former to improve product quality and after-sales services. However, since the lawsuit was targeted at Lenovo’s Ultrabook series, company sales will not suffer major damage, as its primary product of focus is the ThinkPad series.
The company’s US business for PCs saw a record market share of 12.5 per cent till June this year, while its overall US market share rose to 11.3 per cent.
Currently, Lenovo is in the process of expanding its product range and improving profitability, as well as pursuing two acquisitions in the smartphone and server markets.
Photo Credits: International Business Times
