News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

June 7, 2006

legal

Under the Gavel: Apple, Creative, and Norway sit and glare at each other

Posted Jun. 7, ’06, 8:42 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal

Norway vs. Apple vs. CreativeA couple of updates from the MacUser Legal Affairs team in this edition of “Under the Gavel,” (or so I’ve just named it) as Apple gets creative and Norway goes French.

Not satisfied to merely play tit-for-tat with Creative, Apple has decided to raise the stakes by adding another suit to their ongoing legal fight with the Singapore-based company. Apple alleges that Creative has infringed upon not one, not two, but three patents that deal with icon use and editing data. Legal wrangling at this type is almost guaranteed to do neither side any favors, but Creative’s taken the brunt of the damage, their share price dropping five cents lower on news of the suit.

Meanwhile, across the globe, another country has taken issue with the restrictions of Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Norway (known for its cross-word clue capital Oslo) Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon has given Apple an ultimatum: change its DRM or risk the wrath of Viking blood. Or, well, fines anyway. The whistlesblower in this case was The Consumer Council of Norway who, after reading iTunes terms of use, deemed their DRM: “an unreasonable technical term of use, in so far as it prevents purchasers of music files at iTunes from using other MP3 players than iPods. The sole purpose of this type of DRM is to lock consumers into buying products from a dominant market player.” Shazam. Ombudsman Bjørn (I just lovethe little slash. It reminds me of Brøderbund) is the government official responsible for protecting consumers rights in Norway. In the US, of course, consumer’s rights are protected by the media companies themselves.

*hollow laugh of the damned*

Man, we need use a Consumer Ombudsman. Stat.


1 Comments

Greg said:

No, we don't need the government telling us what we can and can't do with stuff we legally buy. We need to finally wise up and blame ourselves, because us and our P2P apps just can't be trusted.

June 7, 2006 2:35 PM

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