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Legal
Apple requests Real case is dismissed
By CMU Editorial | Published on Wednesday 20 April 2011
Apple has asked a federal judge to dismiss that previously reported antitrust lawsuit still rumbling on from the era of DRM in digital music.
As previously reported, this lawsuit relates to the digital music market of 2004 when the major record companies still insisted all downloads came with digital rights management embedded. The only DRMed file format that would work on the market leading iPod was that owned by Apple itself, AAC files with Fairplay DRM. And the only place these could be bought was the iTunes Music Store, meaning that iPod users were locked to iTunes when buying music from a major label.
One of Apple’s main competitors at the time, Real Networks, launched a bit of software that could convert digital music files from one format to another, so that downloads bought from any of iTunes’ competitors could be transformed into Fairplay AAC files, so they’d work on an iPod. Apple did not like this turn of events, and promptly updated the software that drives an iPod so that files created by Real’s format-transfer system didn’t work.
This all ended up in anti-trust litigation, with Apple accused of acting anti-competitively in forcing iPod owners to buy music from its own music store rather than those of its rivals. The lawsuit is still rumbling on, and recently a US judge insisted that Apple boss Steve Jobs must testify as part of the proceedings, despite him being on sick leave, because he had knowledge of correspondence between Apple and Real back in 2004 that was essential to the case.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has now asked for the case to be dismissed, arguing it employed the policies it employed back in 2004 for technical rather than commercial reasons, noting: “iPods work better when consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can cause corruption or other problems”. The company also claims that the tech firm received 58 complaints from customers who had put tracks on their iPod which had been created using Real’s technology (before Apple blocked it) and found they didn’t work.
US District Judge James Ware is expected to rule on the motion next month.
Elsewhere in Apple litigation news, the IT firm is suing Samsung over allegations its rivals copied the design of its iPad and iPhone for the Samsung Galaxy range of smartphones and tablet devices.
