Another Week, Another Apple Lawsuit
People and/or companies filing suit against Apple ought to get a volume discount these days.
The latest lawsuit, filed by Stacie Somers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Apple uses unfair business practices. Unfair could mean a lot of different things, but in this particular suit it refers to the iPod's inability to play Windows Media Audio files.
“Further, Apple sells songs on the iTunes store with its own copy-protection technology, FairPlay, which is incompatible with music players other than the iPod.
The suit contends iPod-owning consumers can only buy music from iTunes, an unlawful tie-in that violates U.S. antitrust laws. Apple could license the WMA format for as little as $0.03 per iPod, or for a total of $800,000 based on Apple's 2005 iPod sales, the suit reads.
The suit may quickly become less relevant as many online music retailers, including Apple, expand their offerings of music free of copy-protection restrictions, also known as DRM (digital rights management).”
The latest lawsuit, filed by Stacie Somers in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Apple uses unfair business practices. Unfair could mean a lot of different things, but in this particular suit it refers to the iPod's inability to play Windows Media Audio files.
“Further, Apple sells songs on the iTunes store with its own copy-protection technology, FairPlay, which is incompatible with music players other than the iPod.
The suit contends iPod-owning consumers can only buy music from iTunes, an unlawful tie-in that violates U.S. antitrust laws. Apple could license the WMA format for as little as $0.03 per iPod, or for a total of $800,000 based on Apple's 2005 iPod sales, the suit reads.
The suit may quickly become less relevant as many online music retailers, including Apple, expand their offerings of music free of copy-protection restrictions, also known as DRM (digital rights management).”
