MP3 player court order overturned
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SanDisk puts its MP3 players back on display at a German electronics show after overturning a court injunction.
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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.The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, is the latest one to accuse Apple of unfair business practices. Apple is facing similar legal actions and scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe.The suit was filed Dec. 31 by Stacie Somers, a resident of San Diego County, California, who bought a 30GB iPod from Target, a retail store. Others who bought an iPod or content from Apple&#39;s iTunes store after Dec. 31, 2003, may join the suit.The suit calls for Apple to forfeit money it earned from the unfair practices and pay the plaintiffs damages.It alleges that Apple has constricted the market by not enabling iPods to play content in the Windows Media Audio (WMA) format, Microsoft&#39;s copy-protection technology. Further, Apple sells songs on the iTunes store with its own copy-protection technology, FairPlay, which is incompatible with music players other than the iPod.The suit contends iPod-owning consumers can only buy music from iTunes, an unlawful tie-in that violates U.S. antitrust laws. Apple could license the WMA format for as little as $0.03 per iPod, or for a total of $800,000 based on Apple&#39;s 2005 iPod sales, the suit reads.The suit may quickly become less relevant as many online music retailers, including Apple, expand their offerings of music free of copy-protection restrictions, also known as DRM (digital rights management).DRM-free tracks offer the advantage of being compatible on a wider range of devices. In May, Apple began selling songs from the label EMI without DRM. Also,&#160;Amazon.com now sells song in MP3 format, and Universal Music Group has tested selling DRM-free music.&#160;
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A US court's ruling ordering Microsoft to pay out $1.5bn for infringing MP3 patents could have widespread effects on the technology sector.
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A second U.S. appeals court ruled Tuesday that the recording industry can't force Internet providers to identify music downloaders under a disputed copyright law.
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A woman in Milwaukee and her ex-boyfriend are under orders to pay thousands to the recording industry. A man in California refinanced his home to pay an $11,000 settlement. A year after it began, the industry's legal campaign against Internet music piracy is inching through the federal courts, producing some unexpected twists.
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A Dutch rights organization which  compensates artists for the use of their copyrighted material  on Tuesday lost its court bid to remove a government block on  new levies on MP3 media players.
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MP3 players should carry warnings users risk damaging hearing by having the volume too high, experts say.
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Software company asks appeals court to cancel patent infringement judgment.
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Action needs to be taken where harm was done An attempt by Flash memory card maker SanDisk to take on a group of MP3-related patent holders has failed in an English court. The High Court said all of SanDisk's claims fell outside the court's jurisdiction of England and Wales.â¦
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THE US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the recording industry seeking to force internet service providers to turn over the names of subscribers suspected of music piracy.
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Grokster, Morpheus not liable for user's actions, appeals court says.
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The Dutch equivalent of the RIAA lost its bid to put a tax on MP3 players Tuesday, as a Netherlands court said it would not remove a government block on any further taxes.
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A federal appeals court on Thursday delivered a stinging blow to the anti-piracy efforts of major movie studios and music companies by ruling several Internet file-sharing software companies are not liable for copyright infringement.
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In a judicial blow to the entertainment industry, a federal appeals court ruled that makers of two leading file-sharing programs are not legally liable for the songs, movies
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Patent infringement claim A German court has ruled that local Public Prosecution officers were right to seize SanDisk digital music players at the IFA consumer electronics show held in Berlin last September. SanDisk's players are accused of incorporating without permission technology owned by a number of European firms.â¦
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By JESSICA MINTZ SEATTLE - A federal jury's ruling that Microsoft infringed on two MP3 patents and must pay $1.52 billion in damages could turn into a major sour note for other technology companies in the digital music business.
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The entertainment industry is pondering its next move in the wake of a legal setback delivered Thursday, August 19. On that day, a Federal appeals court in San Francisco