iTunes user sues Apple over FairPlay DRM
675480
MacCentral - 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.
529401
InfoWorld - The head of Warner Music Group defended the use of DRM (digital rights management) with digital music on Wednesday in an apparent response to&#160;recent criticism from Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
623606
(InfoWorld) - Microsoft is suing a group of hackers who apparently gained access to the company's proprietary source code, creating a program that wipes media files clean of file-sharing restrictions. The suit, which Microsoft filed last Friday in a district court in Seattle, Washington, gives only a nickname for the ringleader, "viodentia," who is one of 10 "John Does" whom Microsoft believes are responsible for breaking its Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. Last month, a program calledÂ FairUse4WM surfacedÂ that removed the DRM (Digital Rights Management) technology from Windows Media 10 and 11 files. Many major download services, such as Napster, use Windows DRM, and its removal would allow the files to be copied without restriction or uploaded to file-sharing networks. Microsoft is suing for copyright infringement, since FairUse4WM uses code from the company's Windows Media software development kit version 9.5, a toolset used by software developers to build applications. Microsoft said the hackers have caused it more than $75,000 in losses. It is seeking a permanent injunction against the defendants and compensation. In a separate document filed with the court, Microsoft said the defendants have gone to substantial lengths to hide their identities. It asked for extra time to issue subpoenas to e-mail service providers, to track down some e-mail addresses linked to the individuals, to help it to identify them. The hackers have proved enduring foes for Microsoft. Soon after FairUse4WM was released, Microsoft issued an update to its DRM software, making the hacking program ineffective. The hackers responded less than a day later by updating FairUse4WM again. Their efforts are unlikely to affect the growth of legitimate download services, however, since content providers are aware that no DRM is unbreakable, analysts said. "I think in the long term it's not going to deal Microsoft any crushing blow, but it's certainly an irritant for them," said Jonathan Arber, research analyst for Ovum in London. Technology companies will have to make it too hard for hackers to break the DRM, a leap that could be difficult considering any update to the DRM technology would still have to be compatible with hardware in the market, said Paul Jackson, principal analyst at Forrester Research. Additionally, frequent software updates tend to alienate users, he said. "Itâs a question of highly determined hackers desperate to prove their moxie, versus a corporation that can't release updates every 10 minutes because that annoys people," Jackson said.
114917
iTunes Customer Suing Apple over iPod-opoly  Apple has been sued by a customer of their iTunes Online Digital Music Store on the charge that the company broke antitrust laws by only allowing iTunes to work with Appleâs music player iPod. This leads to incompatibility of other music players with their online ...
44035
Apple has taken steps to take ownership of the iTunes.co.uk domain name from its current owner, with the company formally complaining to Nominet, the UK domain name registrar, that it is entitled to the domain.
202006
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
166038
Apple is suing three men it says shared preview versions of its latest operating system online.
715997
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;
259693
Europeans, you've picked the wrong target Steve Jobs today called on the music labels to license their music free of Digital Rights Managment (DRM) to Apple and others, to create a "truly interoperable music marketplace".â¦
549429
UK regulator the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has not initiated an investigation into Apple&#39;s iTunes UK pricing. The Consumer&#39;s Association (CA) yesterday filed a complaint with the OFT, alleging that Apple is &quot;ripping-off&quot; UK music buyers.
742884
Another mainstream tech columnist has written that Apple must license the iTunes Music Store/iPod, or perish from the wrath of its competitors.
262949
iTunes users might soon be able to download Fox movies, and Apple could also be ready to reverse its stance on licensing its FairPlay DRM, according to reports.
42815
The Office of Fair Trading refers Apple's iTunes service to the European Commission on the grounds that it over-charges UK customers.
555374
The unpopularity among users of Microsoft's WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) digital rights management tech isn't stopping Apple, which has filed an updated patent application on a DRM scheme with similar aspirations.
568435
The OFT refers Apple's iTunes to the European Commission on the grounds that it over-charges UK customers.
131009
BRUSSELS/BERLIN  - Apple President Steve Jobs  reiterated his commitment to charging the same price for iTunes  downloads across Europe as his lawyers defended the company on  Wednesday against allegations its prices are not uniform.
230588
Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has filed lawsuits against three developers that allegedly posted a prerelease version of Mac OS X Tiger through file-sharing networks.