The class-action lawsuit against Apple over alleged anticompetitive behavior in how the iPod handled songs from third-party much stores is finally in the hands of a jury. Following last week’s final witness testimony, the jury has started deliberations in the decade-old case.
The evidence and testimony in this case have given us quite a bit of insight into the way Apple operated ten years ago with regards to its iPod and iTunes business. Former CEO Steve Jobs took jabs at rival Real Networks in a videotaped deposition (which the media wants the public to see, but Apple doesn’t). We also learned details of Apple’s contracts with record labels.
The other side of the case ran into quite a bit of trouble, mostly stemming from the fact that the entire list of plaintiffs was disqualified from participating in the suit, which nearly brought the case to an abrupt dismissal. Eventually more plaintiffs were found that could replace those who had dropped out, and the trial continued.
While Apple does admit that iPods with music from stores other than iTunes would show an error message and require a restore before they could be used again, thus deleting the third-party tunes without so much as a friendly heads-up, the court was unable to find anyone who would testify to experiencing this, including the plaintiffs representing the entire class.
Apple’s continues to claim that these deletions were part of a system required by the record labels to prevent piracy, as well as to ensure the integrity of the iPod’s software and protect it against “hackers.”
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That was fast…
They still need to investigate those stock trades.
10 years to prepare a class-action suit, and not one creditable plaintiff to be found amid a sea of salivating lawyers…
Just goes to show the bogus nature of many a class-action suit, which serve mainly to line the pockets of litigation lawyers, while awarding a symbolic pittance to the affected “Class members”.
Real Networks was a nightmare – Just trying to stay alive.
Tell me about it… I bought into their premium player a few cycles ago for about £19, which gave the ability to convert videos to Mpeg4 and various other mobile formats like AAC etc.
By the next update, they were asking for another £25 or more to retain the premium features I’d already purchased, and downgraded my RealPlayer software to the free version when I didn’t stump up the cash.
Pure shyster move.
Karma’s a vixen, as they are about to discover.
Shows the absurdity of the American Jurisprudence system – As airmanchairman said – 10 years and all the plaintiffs were dismissed as unqualified.
I wish Apple would counter-sue RealNetworks – except it would be a waste of money as I’m pretty sure there is nothing left in their treasury.
But it would kill them and show that companies won’t stand by for BS lawsuits by other companies that couldn’t make the grade on their own. RealNetworks was a horror show of mis-steps back in the day. People only used them until something better came along and then it was adios.