Filed under: Apple Corporate, iPod Family, iTunes
iTunes-iPod linkage cause in another US lawsuit
As reported by several sources over the past few days, Apple's latest legal trouble -- a lawsuit filed in July by Melanie Tucker, which survived a motion to dismiss on December 20 -- is a US counterpart to antitrust actions previously filed in Europe, and (to me at least, but IANAL) sounds very similar to Slattery v. Apple, filed one year ago. Anybody heard from Slattery lately?Tucker's suit alleges that Apple's iPod/iTunes 'axis of funk' is an illegal monopoly, since the songs sold by the iTunes music store only play on the iPod; the suit also suggests that Apple has not done an adequate job of telling users that the iPod and iTunes content are not directly compatible with other digital media devices. One might argue that this exclusivity is just the business Apple is in with iPod and iTunes, but like I said, not a lawyer.
Now, I have nothing against silly iPod lawsuits on principle; they are, if nothing else, delightful blog fodder. I do wonder, however, what Ms. Tucker is thinking on this one. First off, you CAN get iTunes songs onto other devices; it's not necessarily straightforward to burn them to a CD and re-rip them, but it's doable. Second, y'know, there are other places to buy music (not Tower Records anymore, sadly). Third, there are, allegedly, other music stores and players. Is this really the same thing as rigging the browser wars in your favor? Just wondering.
[via PCWorld]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon said 12:36AM on 1-03-2007
They should be suing MS for Zune Marketplace only working with Zunes as well then, and for making their software PC-only. And in America you can probably sue them for making them brown-colored as well.
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tim said 12:36AM on 1-03-2007
iTunes music plays on my iPod AND my computer, thank you very much!
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Mr. Krinkle said 12:54AM on 1-03-2007
It sounds like Tucker and the Judge are selectively choosing to go after Apple. I say the Judge too because he refused to dismiss and fully chose to ignore the Microsoft Zune Marketplace + Zune Windows only combo. I'd push to have the Judge removed.
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S.N.A.F.U. said 1:03AM on 1-03-2007
Anyone who did two minutes of research on the internet would know how bogus this is, and would never have bothered filing the suit in the first place. What a waste of time and energy, which is probably their intent in the first place, waste Apple's time and money.
I've been using iTunes for years, but I have only had an iPod Shuffle (my first iPod)for a couple of months.
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NKHK said 1:01AM on 1-03-2007
Ms Tucker should take the good with the bad, rather than sue whoever appears to have the deepest pockets.
The downside of buying CDs is that much of the time you buy them for one or two good songs, and are forced to buy the rest of them. The upside is that the quality is better than mp3s.
The upside of ITS is that you can eliminate the need to buy those additional unwanted tracks, thus saving quite a bit of coin. The downside is that they have DRM protection, and that they are compressed.
The thing here is that Ms Tucker has a CHOICE. Any CD (AFAIK) can be burned into iTunes and used in mp3 format on any number of music playing devices (or converted using other non-Apple software). No one is forcing this litigious freak to use ITS - she can simply go and buy the CD. Want a movie from ITS but want to play it on other devices? Then buy the dvd. It's not rocket science. And it certainly doesn't need a law suit.
For her next little project she might as well sue the record companies for forcing her to buy songs on CDs that she doesn't want.
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Zillatron said 1:10AM on 1-03-2007
What #4 said.
Z
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Jules Galagarza said 2:10AM on 1-03-2007
People need to get a life and just press Burn!
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Will said 2:23AM on 1-03-2007
So what about console games? whould that make exclusive titles illegal? Or vacuum cleaner bags. damit this bag only works in my hoover!
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Liquidmark said 3:11AM on 1-03-2007
Apple isn't forcing anyone to use the iPod and using iTunes isn't so bad. Heck, you can get iTunes for windows!
You don't even have to buy music from apple if you don't want to. I think this is just a case of people who dislike Apple for some reason. So they file lawsuits to try and cripple Apples chance to conduct business.
This is like suing Apple because OSX only runs legally on Macs. This is silly.
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colonelMoutarde said 3:06AM on 1-03-2007
except that songs are NOT owned by Apple who has NO intellectual property on them. It's a reseller. And even though you (think you) own their products (DRM songs), you CAN'T listen to them (as digital files) where you want it. It's now illegal (in some countries like France and US I think) to try to get around DRM protection (burning a CD then ripping is a process of bypassing a DRM, thus making it illegal).
Some of you are then suggesting doing something illegal ?
I that worse than downloading then (not on a moral point of view but a legal one) ?
#8 Will. You have the right to modify your vacuum bag to have it fit another device. I you look at the printer market, there is an issue regarding the ink cartridges with the printer manufacturer trying to protect the ink market with dubious technical tricks to prevent interoperability and thus making a compatible cartridge illegal because it breaks a patent.Ludicrous. The similarity with AAPL and iTunes is stricking.
colonelMoutarde
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Darius said 3:10AM on 1-03-2007
iTunes the best :)
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roddy said 3:59AM on 1-03-2007
anybody still calling US "the land of the free"?
get a life!
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Shaaheen said 5:29AM on 1-03-2007
You Americans are really bored. Can't you simply do something else? Why is everybody attacking Apple?
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Edsel said 7:35AM on 1-03-2007
This is the same strategy used by competitors against Microsoft many years ago. It worked. I wouldn't be surprised if an Apple competitor, the RIAA, or a combination thereof were actually "Ms. Tucker".
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Leonard Nimrod said 10:29AM on 1-03-2007
- iPods
- iTunes for Mac
- iTunes for Windows
- or burn to a CD that will play in any CD player, DVD player, computer or portable music player.
Apple 1
Melanie 0
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Chris said 12:43PM on 1-03-2007
bravo #8... the analogy was perfect.
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b00gie said 6:57PM on 1-03-2007
Personally, I think Ms. Tucker is 100%.
FYI, tomorrow I am filing lawsuit against Sony because their PS3 games cant be played on my Wii.
In February, I will launch the "Month of Incompatibility aka 'Monopoly' lawsuits". I will sue one major company each day for various "monopolies".
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Ben Drawbaugh said 8:12PM on 1-03-2007
It is a matter of tying and owning the market. Since they own the market on portable media players and music downloads if they make money on both and tie the two together it is illegal in the US. Of course I am not a Lawyer, this is simply my understanding of the law.
That being said, I don't think they make money on the songs, by the time they pay the record companies and other overhead, I doubt they turn a profit, they do it to sell iPods which are profitable. If they are turning a profit, they had better hope the Zune is successful, then they will be able to escape like Microsoft did by saying they weren't a monopoly because Apple exists.
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Berkana said 9:17AM on 1-04-2007
She should also sue video game console makers: by design, none of them are compatible with games made for any other console, and if you buy a bunch of games for one console, you're "locked in" to that console.
Surely, you all can see the logic flaw.
If I remember correctly, the Super Nintendo and the first Play Station both had market dominance that exceeded the dominance of the iPod, which currently stands at about 75% of the DAP market. If Nintendo and Sony didn't get sued for monopoly abuses, neither should Apple. In fact, the iPod is even more compatible than the SNES or the PS1: it can play MP3s and other formats except for DRM'ed WMA files, whereas none of the consoles could play anything but the games that were made using/licensing their format.
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DA said 11:37PM on 1-15-2007
PlayStation CAN play other things: ausio CDs and DVDs in the case of the PS2. iTunes songs CAN be played on normal MP3 players anyway (I do). You make a CD of the songs and then rip the MP3s from that CD.
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