20th Apr 11
Apple asks judge to dismiss music download monopoly claims
by Harry Oldfield
Bite of the Apple: Firm denies iTunes has created a music monopoly
Bite of the Apple: Firm denies iTunes has created a music monopoly
Apple Inc has asked a federal judge to dismiss a customer antitrust lawsuit which claims that the company limited consumer choice by linking downloaded iPod music to its iTunes music store.
An attorney for California-based company Cupertino, Robert Mittelstaedt, told US District Judge James Ware in the Californian city of San Jose that preventing iPod music downloads which used competitors’ software was meant to improve the quality of downloading for customers of iTunes.
Changes carried out by Apple in 2004, just days after the announcement by internet software firm RealNetworks Inc of a technology enabling tracks from its online music store to be transferred onto iPods, weren’t anticompetitive, said Mittelstaedt.
He went on to say during the hearing that Apple’s opinion is that iPods can work better when consumers apply the iTunes jukebox instead of third party software which can cause corruption as well as other problems.
Apple claimed that 58 consumer downloading complaints were the reason behind its decision to make improvements to iPods in order to ensure other companies’ downloads could not work with the portable devices. When Ware asked if Apple had attempted to confirm by carrying out scientific tests whether downloads from other companies were the true cause of the complaints, Mittelstaedt said that the company had done no such tests.
One of the lawyers representing customers of iTunes who sued, Bonny Sweeney, said that the plaintiffs were not able to find any legacy software which would allow them to carry out accurate tests, prompting the judge to say that a trial could turn into a battle of experts.
Ware stated that he would rule by May regarding the request to have the case dismissed. Digital music files, which were offered on iTunes, were available to purchase without proprietary software by March 2009, according to court records.
Chief executive officer and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, who was ordered by a different judge to respond to questions in the trial, met with plaintiff attorneys on 12 April for a deposition, said Sweeney yesterday. She declined to make any further comment.
Jobs took medical leave from Apple beginning on 17 January. The CEO, who has been fighting cancer, has been away from work due to medical reasons three times over the last seven years.
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