Consumers’ association expects decision on May 23 in Samsung updates case

The Consumers’ Association expects a ruling from the District Court of The Hague on Wednesday 23 May in the case against Samsung. The organization wants to enforce through the courts that the South Korean manufacturer provides its devices with Android updates more often and for longer.

The lawsuit started on Monday, the Consumers’ Association announced earlier. A spokesperson confirmed the expected ruling date. The organization said at the end of 2016 that a summons had been sent to Samsung to start proceedings on the merits in court. The union wants the manufacturer to continue to provide updates for its devices for at least two years after purchase or four years after introduction. For example, the company should release updates within a month of availability. In addition, the requirement is that Samsung clearly informs its customers about its update policy.

The Consumers’ Association has already tried to achieve the same through summary proceedings, which were brought in early 2016. At the time, the union said that talks had been held with Samsung, but that they had come to nothing. The case would be against Samsung because the company is the market leader. The outcome of the summary proceedings, in March 2016, was that the judge did not want to rule in such proceedings on such a complex case with potentially major consequences for Samsung.

The judge ruled that there was no urgent interest, which must be the case in summary proceedings. For example, the Consumers’ Association would not have sufficiently demonstrated that there is an acute threat to consumers from leaks such as Stagefright, which were cited by the association. Samsung had made an adjustment to its site in December of 2015, in which it informed consumers about security patches and software support for its devices. The Consumers’ Association did not find this information sufficient at the time.

On its site, Samsung states that the Galaxy S6 devices and newer variants are currently receiving monthly updates in the same series. This also includes the Note 5 and the Note 8, along with the A5 2016, A5 2017 and the A8 2018. Other devices, such as this year’s A8+ and J2, receive quarterly updates. The manufacturer also mentions that devices with many users will receive an update sooner.

Samsung Galaxy S9