[opendtv] Re: News: iTunes user sues Apple over FairPlay DRM
- From: "John Willkie" <JohnWillkie@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 10:43:14 -0800
Who wrote this crap? One cannot sue civilly and allege guilt. Guilt is for
criminal cases; it's akin to going to the school nurse, and he diagnosing
you with brain cancer.
John Willkie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Birkmaier" <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "OpenDTV Mail List" <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2005 5:31 AM
Subject: [opendtv] News: iTunes user sues Apple over FairPlay DRM
> http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/01/06/slattery/index.php
>
> January 06, 2005 5:55 pm ET
>
> MacCentral
> iTunes user sues Apple over FairPlay DRM
>
> By Peter Cohen pcohen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Thomas William Slattery has filed a class action suit against Apple
> Computer Inc. in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
> California, alleging Apple is guilt of violating federal antitrust
> laws and California's unfair competition law by requiring users who
> buy music from the iTunes Music Store to use an iPod if they plan to
> take their music on the road with them. Slattery's suit cuts to the
> heart of an ongoing issue related to Digital Rights Management (DRM)
> technology present in commercial downloaded music.
>
> Songs sold through the iTunes Music Store are protected using a DRM
> technology called FairPlay. Exclusive to the iTunes Music Store,
> FairPlay enables individually downloaded songs to be played back on
> up to five Macs or PCs, burnt to an unlimited number of CDs and
> downloaded to an unlimited number of iPods connected to authorized
> computers. The DRM technology is lauded by some as a model for the
> industry, but it has its detractors.
>
> Apple's "unlawful bundling and tying arrangement" of the iPod and
> iTunes Music Store violates federal and state laws "by suppressing
> competition, denying consumer choice, and forcing consumers to pay
> supra-competitive prices for their digital portable music players,"
> says Slattery's complaint, a copy of which MacCentral has received.
>
> The suit indicates that Slattery -- defined as "typical of the claims
> of this class" -- owns an iPod and has purchased files from the
> iTunes Music Store.
>
> Playing fair, and FairPlay
>
> One point of contention voiced by critics -- and by the lawyers
> filing Slattery's suit -- is that Apple hasn't licensed FairPlay to
> other portable music player makers and music stores: Only iPods can
> play songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, they say.
>
> Apple competitor Real tried to work around the problem with Harmony,
> a technology that makes songs purchased through Real's own music
> store look to the iPod like an iTunes Music Store song. Harmony was
> introduced by Real over the summer and almost instantly decried by
> Apple as "the tactics and ethics of a hacker". Apple later closed
> that loop with a software update to the iPod preventing it from using
> Harmony songs.
>
> By comparison, Apple competitor Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Media
> Player 10 technology is broadly supported by digital music players
> and used by some music stores. Microsoft has also begun a testing and
> branding program called "PlaysForSure," which lets consumers know
> their music players can play songs encrypted with Microsoft DRM.
>
> This combined effort hasn't greatly improved the marketshare for
> these products and services, however: Apple continues to reign
> supreme. Apple has the best-selling MP3 player and the best-selling
> music store.
>
> Monopolizing the situation
>
> After years as the underdog with dwindling market share for its
> Macintosh computer, Apple's become the big dog in the online music
> business. But with the iPod now the best-selling MP3 player on the
> market and the iTunes Music Store similarly at the top of the heap of
> online music stores, some have begun to wonder if Apple is guilty of
> being a monopoly and abusing its power. And that is one important
> point of Slattery's class action suit.
>
> "Within the relevant market for online legal sales of digital music
> files, Defendant Apple, through its iTunes online music store,
> possesses and has possessed through the Class Period monopoly market
> power sufficient to exclude competition," reads the complaint, which
> cites Apple's own estimate of having 80 percent share of the legal
> music download market as evidence that Apple has a monopoly.
>
> The suit was filed on behalf of Slattery by three separate firms --
> the Los Angeles, Calif. firm of Braun Law Group P.C., The Katriel Law
> Firm, P.C. of Washington, DC and Murray, Frank & Sailer LLP of New
> York, New York. The suit asks for certification as a class action,
> and the award of "compensatory and statutory money damages, including
> trebled damages and punitive damages where appropriate." The suit
> also asks the court to enjoin Apple from continuing its conduct.
>
>
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