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November 8, 2007

legal

Florida man leads class-action suit against Apple for violating antitrust

Posted Nov. 8, ’07, 10:30 AM PT by Cyrus Farivar
Category | Legal

GavelWhile we’ve heard the rumblings of this song before — it’s now official, people are getting a little miffed over Apple’s tying the iPod to iTunes.

So it comes as no surprise that someone has led a class-action suit against Apple for being upset about “forcing” customers to use the iTunes service, and that

[A]s consumers who may lose or break their iPod are unable to transfer songs purchased from iTunes to a different brand of player. Therefore they are forced to either purchase another iPod or forgo their right to use content already purchased from the iTunes service.

The suit, which was originally filed in Florida this past summer —
and includes violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practice Act, attempted monopolization in violation of the Florida Antitrust Act, and monopolization in violation of the Florida Antitrust Act — has been recently transferred to the District Court for Southern California.

Looks like Mr. Cooperman will have his hands full for some time to come.


7 Comments

Moe Author Profile Page said:

Wow! that's one big picture!!!

November 8, 2007 10:33 AM
Mike said:

OK YES the songs purchased have DRM on them but if the guy was smart at all he would know that to get rid of that is as easy as pie. Even my teenage son knows how to do it and OH...its legal. My family uses 4 different types of MP3 players ALL of which can be used with iTunes so I guess this guy is wasting time and money because he simply isn't computer savvy or he simply wants to make a buck. Good luck with that lawsuit and getting your $15,000! Idiot.

November 8, 2007 12:37 PM
Greg said:

People really need to stop eating their Violent Retard Flakes before suing others.

November 8, 2007 3:02 PM
Fr3d Author Profile Page said:

What about the reverse? Napster (and other music services I'm sure) have DRM on their wma (Windows Media) files, which stops you putting them on your iPod (and quite a few other players)...

And noone is forcing anyone to buy [DRM'd] songs from iTunes... you can still buy CDs, or use iTunes Plus...

November 8, 2007 4:02 PM
hazaa Author Profile Page said:

This is a stupid case

November 8, 2007 5:01 PM
Rike said:

All you have to do is burn a Audio CD with your DRM songs on it. Then rip it using any software that comes with any MP3 player and put it on that player. The songs will still be watermarked as purchased by you, but you wouldn't be sharing, right?

November 9, 2007 12:06 PM
sdkay said:

I'm not an anti-Apple troll or anything (or a lawyer).

The fact that yes, you can only use the iTunes DRM with an iPod is correct, no matter what people say about burning songs from CDs or doing questionable things to the mp3s.

They are saying, as far as I can tell:

You can only use songs with iTunes DRM on them that you purchase from iTunes are only compatible with iPods.

Implied there, it seems to me, is that you shouldn't have to do anything to them to make them compatible with devices other than an iPod.

However, nobody and nothing is forcing them to use iTunes, and the fact that some of the songs sold by Apple are incompatible with devices other than an iPod doesn't make them a monopoly. Whether this practice is monopolistic, I think, is what the suit is over...

But what do I know, IANAL.

November 9, 2007 7:38 PM

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