Apple plays with fire, courts iPhone gift card lawsuits
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Apple's recent decision to forbid the use of Apple Store gift cards for iPhone sales may expose the company to class action lawsuits or state-led investigations. Is this anti-iPhone locking action one step too far for the company?
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SAN FRANCISCO: Apple Computer Inc is suing anonymous people who leaked details about new products by posting information on the Internet, court documents showed last Friday.
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(InfoWorld) - Hackers who unlock Apple's iPhone from the AT&T network and share the method with 10 million of their closest Internet friends are inviting a lawsuit from the two companies, several intellectual property (IP)Â lawyers said Monday. Apple and AT&T may have a legal case against unlockers under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), especially if they try to sell software code or devices that unlock the iPhone, the lawyers said. But the legal landscape gets a bit complicated -- there's a legal exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions that allows individual mobile phone users to unlock their devices for use on other networks. So figuring out how to unlock the iPhone yourself is not likely to be a DMCA violation, most of the IP lawyers said. But posting instructions or code online, even for free, may earn you a cease-and-desist letter from an unfriendly lawyer, and selling software or a device that unlocks the phone is inviting trouble, most of the lawyers said. But there's plenty of disagreement among IP lawyers about the interpretation of the DMCA. "It's an extremely grey [area], because I don't think the exemption was altogether clear," said Bart Showalter, an intellectual property lawyer in Dallas with the Baker Botts LLP law firm. "The idea of trying to use copyright to, in a sense, establish exclusivity in a service contract ... is going to be an interesting thing to watch." John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, had planned to release software Saturday that wouldÂ allow users to unlock their iPhone. But early Saturday morning, McLaughlin said he received a phone call from a man saying he was from a law firm representing AT&T. The caller saidÂ McLaughlin could be sued for copyright infringement. Two other groups have claimed to have unlocked the iPhone. Representatives of both AT&T and Apple declined to comment Monday on possible legal actions against unlockers. Showalter suggested that unlocking the iPhone and posting code or instructions for free would likely fall under the exception to the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions, thus protecting the unlocker from legal action. The exception allows circumvention of device controls "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network," according to language from the U.S. registrar of copyrights. So if a hacker unlocks the iPhone, then posts the unlocking code for free, he's engaging in a legal activity and enabling others to engage in the same legal activity, said Michael Lewis, an IP lawyer with Fox Rothschild LLP. If that hacker is sued, he could probably argue that posting of the unlocking code is protected by free speech provisions in U.S. law, according to Lewis. Other IP lawyers disagreed. Movie studios have successfully sued Web site operators for distributing the DeCSS DVD-copying code, noted Carole Handler, an IP lawyer with Foley and Lardner LLP. The unlocker of the iPhone who posts code online could be held liable for secondary copyright infringement, she said. "I don't see that [Apple and AT&T] have a choice," Handler said. "They have to do something. If you don't protect your intellectual property, it's gone." Lewis' colleague, Gerry Norton, agreed, saying the unlocking exception was narrowly written. "The exception was just for the end-user," he said. Most of the lawyers agreed that selling software to unlock the iPhone, as McLaughlin was planning to do, would invite a lawsuit under the DMCA. "The courts seem to have less sympathy for people who are doing things to make a buck," Lewis said. But there wasn't even unanimous agreement on the legal liability of selling unlocking software. If the software being distributed targeted only the network lock on the iPhone, the developer could have a defense, Showalter said. "It does seem a little unusual to me that they say somebody can unlock their phone, but if someone tells them how to do it, that's a violation of the DMCA," he said. "If the software that's being sold is only doing the minimum amount that's necessary to allow it to interoperate with other services, you may have some support in the DMCA exception." Beyond the legal questions about unlocking the iPhone, Apple and AT&T could face their own legal challenges, Handler said. The exclusive contract between the two companies could lead to an antitrust lawsuit if a competitor or customer could successfully argue there's no other device like the iPhone available on the market, she said. "Consumers want new technology," she said. "This is the era of the consumer controlling the media. When the consumer is told he or she can't do something, they get pretty upset, and they start claiming conspiracy, antitrust, and the whole bit."
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Apple has filed a federal lawsuit accusing three members of the Apple Developer Connection Program of posting a developer release of Mac OS X Tiger onto Web sites where they could be downloaded
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Apple is suing anonymous individuals who it accuses of leaking details to the Web of its unreleased products. The company filed suit in the Santa Clara County California Superior Court on December 13.
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Apple lawyers are asking the judge to throw out a lawsuit alleging patent infringement.
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Hostilities started in late July, when Real cracked Apple&#39;s FairPlay code, meaning songs bought from the RealPlayer Music Store could be played on the iPod - a move that went down very badly over at Apple. Real then decided to ratchet up the pressure by ...
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An Apple lawsuit against the operators of fan websites stirs debate on whether bloggers can claim legal protections.
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On Thursday, Apple C.E.O. Steven P. Jobs acknowledged that the company had abused its core customersâ trust and extended a $100 store credit to the early iPhone buyers.
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Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) has sued three men for illegally distributing test copies of the next version of its Mac OS X operating system
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Apple Computer Inc  on  Wednesday said two lawsuits have been filed against the  company, one in federal district court and another in state  court in northern California, over its awarding to stock option  grants.
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New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is accusing the nation's largest shopping mall owner of violating a new consumer protection law by charging administrative fees on prepaid gift cards.
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Apple is suing three men it says shared preview versions of its latest operating system online.
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A&#160;class-action suit filed against Apple&#160;alleges the company unfairly uses technological restrictions with its iPod line and iTunes Music Store to beat out competitors.
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Apple decided this week to require a credit card or debit card to buy an iPhone, and there's now a two-iPhone limit at its retail stores.
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Hackers have figured out how to unleash Apple's iPhone from AT&amp;T's cellular network, but people hoping to make money from the procedure could face legal problems.
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Apple&#39;s announcement last week of the iTunes Affiliate Program, iTunes on Campus, and the iTunes Volume Discount program represents the next escalation in what is turning into a heated battle for control of the Internet music services (which is somewhat