Uber Sexual Assault Cases Judge Ponders if Apps Can be Products

A San Francisco federal judge overseeing hundreds of lawsuits claiming Uber Technologies Inc. failed to stop drivers from sexually assaulting riders grappled with how traditional ideas of “products” apply to app-based technologies.

At a hearing Friday, Uber’s attorneys argued that the rideshare app can’t be subject to traditional product liability lawsuits because the app isn’t tangible property.

But Judge Charles R. Breyer of the US District Court for the Northern District of California said making distinctions about tangibility might not be realistic in light of technological progress.

“The law has to encompass within it technological changes” if the harm the ...