Lawsuit alleges Palm device defect

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A lawsuit asserts that Palm Inc.'s handheld computers have damaged desktop computers when users "HotSync" the devices to their PCs.

Palm spokeswoman Marlene Somsak said the company did not have any comment.

"We haven't seen the lawsuit yet," she said.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in San Francisco County Superior Court, claimed the function that allows users to synchronize the data of the mobile device to their PCs "damages or destroys the motherboards on certain PC brands."

The suit did not specify which Palm models were allegedly defective, nor what kinds of PCs were affected.

The Pinnacle Law Group of San Francisco, which filed the suit on behalf of California residents Melissa Connelly and Laurence Stanton, seeks class-action status. The plaintiff attorneys did not return phone calls to comment.

The Santa Clara-based company has sold more than 13 million personal digital assistants since it introduced the original Palm Pilot in 1996.

Rob Enderle, a Giga Information Group analyst familiar with Palm's products, said he had never previously heard of such complaints from Palm users.

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