Two Android users have filed a lawsuit against Google after they download Android apps that were apparently defective.

Then California residents Dodd Harris and Stephen Sabatino downloaded the releases from Android Market – recently rebranded Google Play – and attempted to secure a refund once they discovered the apps were faulty.

However, given Google only allows users to 'return' apps within 15 minutes of purchase, their attempts were blocked.

A matter of time

Google's currently policy hasn't always been in place, however. Before changes made in 2010, Android users had a 48 hour window in which to return apps for a refund.

Harris and Sabatino's suit asserts that the marketplace's current time-limit is unfair, with both customers demanding Google take responsibility for ensuring that the applications it sells on Google Play – of which there are now more than 450,000 – work as described.

In contrast, Apple's App Store doesn't allow app refunds full stop, though the company claims its walled garden approach is designed to ensure full functionality of all its library across iPhone, iPad and iPod touch – OS versions withstanding.

Suit up

The suit seeks damages not only for Harris and Sabatino, but all other 'similarly situated' residents of California, which – as mocoNews notes – has some of the strongest consumer-protection laws in the US.

The apps in question were not games - Learn Chinese Mandarin Pro ($4.83) and a BitTorrent client aBTC ($4.99) the faulty titles – but any ruling could have a profound impact on developers across the Android ecosystem should it go against Google.

[source: mocoNews]