Previously unseen Steve Jobs recording to appear as key evidence at Apple iPod trial

[Himanshu Arora]

Three years after his death, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is expected to appear (via a videotaped statement) as a key witness in the trial of nearly a decade old class-action lawsuit accusing the Cupertino-based company of trying to monopolize online music distribution.

Filed in 2005 by Thomas Slattery, the lawsuit alleges that Apple violated federal antitrust laws as well as California's unfair competition law by not allowing music purchased on the iTunes Music Store from being played on devices other than iPods, and by restricting iPods to play music purchased from other digital music services.

“It would be egregious and unlawful for a major retailer such as Tower Records, for example, to require that all music CDs purchased by consumers at Tower Records be played only with CD players purchased at Tower Records,” the lawsuit said. “Yet, this is precisely what Apple has done.” The complaint also refers to iTunes competitors including Napster, Audio Lunch Box, Music Rebellion, and more.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Apple managed to get some individual claims removed from the original complaint, but it wasn't successful in having the lawsuit dismissed. In 2009, the iPhone maker dropped DRM (Digital Rights Management) from music purchases, so the lawsuit now covers iPods purchased between September 12, 2006 and March 31, 2009.

“We will present evidence that Apple took action to block its competitors and in the process harmed competition and harmed consumers,” said Bonny Sweeney, the lead lawyer for plaintiffs’, who are seeking $350 million in damages.

On the other hand, Apple’s lawyers are expected to prove that various iTunes updates were designed to make improvements to its products rather than deliberately harm consumers or any particular competitor.

The trial begins today.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/59036-steve-jobs-recording-key-witness-ipod-trial.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Seriously? He's dead, he's buried, his real life image is tarnished with loads of facts. .... is the newsday at Techspot THAT SLOW!!! Come on, you guys can do better than this .... I've been a reader too long to be convinced otherwise!

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

Sounds like this argument is actually legit.

Apple’s lawyers are expected to prove that various iTunes updates were designed to make improvements to its products rather than deliberately harm consumers or any particular competitor.

providing updates to fix the problem later does nothing to prove they weren't guilty in the first place.

 

[lipe123]

Honestly, even when he was alive I didn't care much for Steve jobs. Why do we need to keep being reminded of the guy?
I'm just waiting for the "hidden cam footage" showing him with a halo and a golden apple with a bite out of it or something equally ridiculous.

 

[davislane1]

Seriously? He's dead, he's buried, his real life image is tarnished with loads of facts. [...]

You're just upset Jobs didn't share iMortality with you.

 

[RustyTech]

This article actually hits dead center of why I have never, and will never use apple/itunes.
I did however try itunes out MANY years ago and the second I realized I couldn't do anything outside itunes, I uninstalled it.
What really got my blood boiling is that itunes took the mp3 music I had, converted it into their proprietary format, DRM's it, and AND ANDDDDD DELETED MY MP3 MUSIC!!! That was just SOOO unacceptable! So I never used anything apple since - and life was good.

 

[thelatestmodel]

I'm glad this is happening, Apple pulled some incredibly shady stuff with iTunes before 2009.

Have we all forgotten that all iTunes songs before then used to be encoded in m4p, which can only be played on iTunes and iPods? The comment in the article about Tower Records is a perfect analogy.

 

[tonylukac]

Seems like their "greed" is a blessing to those always crying in hollywood about ripped off mp3s. If it wouldn't play torrented mp3s, The accusers may be guilty of a crime.

 

[SNGX1275]

This article actually hits dead center of why I have never, and will never use apple/itunes.
I did however try itunes out MANY years ago and the second I realized I couldn't do anything outside itunes, I uninstalled it.
What really got my blood boiling is that itunes took the mp3 music I had, converted it into their proprietary format, DRM's it, and AND ANDDDDD DELETED MY MP3 MUSIC!!! That was just SOOO unacceptable! So I never used anything apple since - and life was good.

It might have done that with wma files, because wma wouldn't play on an iPod. I'm highly skeptical of it doing that to your mp3s since iPods could always play mp3s. IF it did delete them, I'm sure there was a warning. Of all the years I've seen people bash Apple and iTunes, I have never seen anyone make your claim, seems like if that was really happening it would be very well known.

 

[cliffordcooley]

My complaint with iTunes was it duplicating the music folder location. I don't remember, but I would almost swear to, having a prompt to remove the original music location. iTunes wanted to control its own location, which I disagreed with. But the original music folder (MP3's) was left intact. I control my music location and will not use an application that does not deal with my organization.

 

[stewi0001]

Dead Men tell no tale!

 

[SNGX1275]

My complaint with iTunes was it duplicating the music folder location. I don't remember, but I would almost swear to, having a prompt to remove the original music location. iTunes wanted to control its own location, which I disagreed with. But the original music folder (MP3's) was left intact. I control my music location and will not use an application that does not deal with my organization.

It would ask if you wanted to let it manage your collection of if you wanted to manage manually. You were/are not forced to, it will deal with your current directory structure just fine.