You probably thought that Apple's legal department has been getting a mite bored lately, huh? After all, we're long past the hustle and bustle of the iMac knockoff lawsuits, the billion-dollar Imatec suit crashed and burned over a year and a half ago, and even the threats of legal action against misappropriations of the Aqua look and feel have quieted down of late. Well, don't worry about Steve's elite corps of lawyers sitting around and twiddling their thumbs; it sounds to us like the vacation's over. They've probably got their hands full dealing with multiple class action suits alleging stock manipulation and misrepresentation.

"Say what now?" It's true, folks; faithful viewer Stephanie informs us that no fewer than three separate firms have now sued on behalf of Apple's shareholders. According to The Mac Observer, all three suits are basically the same in scope; Apple is accused of "issuing false and misleading statements concerning its business and financial condition" during the summer of last year, which made the company's prospects look shinier than they really were just before the stock price fell off a cliff. Specifically, the lawyers take issue with the introduction of the dual-processor Power Macs, the new non-fruit iMacs, and the Cube at last year's Macworld Expo New York. Apparently it was wrong of Steve to say that they featured "exceptionally attractive designs" and "new and revolutionary features." Uh-huh. The Cube, in particular, was a sinfully ugly example of yesterday's technology. What an obsolete eyesore. Lock him up!

The crux of the complaints, however, is the claim that Apple lied when it said that all these new products were "ready for mass production and would be available in quantity very shortly," when in fact they "had been late to market, had defects and lacked features which were essential for market success." (Let us guess: a floppy drive.) Anyway, to make a sad story short, Apple's getting sued by lawyers representing poor, misguided investors who were led astray by Apple's lies, bought shares of AAPL right after the Expo, and then took it in the shorts when the stock price imploded in September. Because as we all know, every other tech stock went up last year.

In any case, it sounds like we can buckle in for a healthy dose of drama as Apple defends itself against allegations that it deliberately inflated its stock price so that insiders could profit before the bubble burst. We're guessing the resolution is simply going to reveal that Apple got blindsided by a slowing economy (remember, Apple was pretty much the first to see the slowdown coming) and that no wrongdoing took place, but heck-- getting there is half the fun. Gentlemen, start your lawyers!