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

September 5, 2007

legal

Under the gavel: Europe gets all litigious

Posted Sep. 5, ’07, 9:17 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal

Judge Gavel DoozerPeople say that America has become a culture of lawsuits, but that doesn’t mean that the US is alone in that regard. The folks in Europe have their fair share of legal action, especially when it comes to dear old Apple.

First up, we’ve got a little news on the antitrust charges that the European Union had leveled against Apple and the iTunes Store. Apple, as you may recall, had sent a response to the EU, which was being studied “carefully.” Now, the two parties, along with several of the major record labels, are sitting down for closed door talks on September 19th and 20th. At stake: whether or not Apple and the labels are illegally forcing European residents to purchase songs depending on where they live. There hasn’t been this much excitement in Europe since the Reformation. Am I right? Eh? Eh?

As if the ongoing spat with the EU isn’t enough, Apple is once again facing legal action from another corner of the continent: Denmark. Earlier this year, that country’s Consumer Complaints Board declared the iBook G4 to be defective, based on an issue with a faulty solder connection. This week, the board ruled against Apple, saying that the company will be required to compensate owners of faulty units; they’ve given Apple two weeks to comply or they will be “face public exposure on the boards list of ‘unwilling companies’.” Oooooooh. What next, make them stay after school?

Seriously though, it sounds like the iBook G4 complaint is valid—they really put their tests through the ringer. Though I’m not sure why only Denmark seems to have taken the time to investigate the problem. As for the EU, I’d love it if there was some way we could get the record companies to let us buy music from other countries, but I’m not holding my breath just yet.


1 Comments

Jellygreen said:

That is awesome! You have a picture of that Doozer judge from Fraggle Rock. My hat goes off to you sir.

September 5, 2007 12:40 PM

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