An appeals court on Thursday ruled against South Korean iPhone users who filed a damages suit against Apple Inc. for collecting their location information without their consent.
  

The Busan High Court, upholding a lower court's ruling, dismissed the complaint filed against the U.S.-based tech firm and its local unit, Apple Korea Inc., seeking 1 million won ($879) each in compensation, saying there was no leakage of private data.
  

In 2011, about 28,000 people filed the suit a few weeks after South Korea's telecom regulator, the Korea Communication Commission, ordered Apple to pay a fine for violating the country's location information laws.
  

The KCC said Apple accumulated iPhone users' location data even when users disabled the iPhone's location sensors, infringing on regulations that mandate companies to seek consent from users when they track their whereabouts.
  

A district court, however, dismissed the complaint. Only 299 out of some 28,000 people participated in the appeal. (Yonhap)