Plaintiffs are seeking $1B in Apple trial over software that required iTunes to be played on iPods
Technology has moved on in the nearly 10 years since a class action was filed against Apple Inc. over the company’s handling of songs downloaded onto iPods from its iTunes Music Store.
However, that won’t prevent the computer goliath from being hit with a costly damages award, if a federal jury agrees with the plaintiffs in a trial that is now ongoing in Oakland, California. Some 8 million consumers who purchased iPods directly from Apple between September 12, 2006 and March 31, 2009 are seeking over $350 million in damages in the latest version of the suit. If the plaintiffs win, damages could be trebled.
They say they had to spend extra money to buy iPods because Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management software blocked songs from competing providers from being loaded onto iPods, and prevented iTunes from being loaded onto competitors’ players. Hence, the suit contends, Apple could charge more for its own iPods, CNET, the Mercury News and an Apple iPod iTunes Antitrust Litigation website explain.
Apple says its software and upgrades helped consumers by preventing their iPods from being hacked and allowing them to play video, a groundbreaking development at the time.
An essential issue the jury must decide, the Mercury News reports, is whether Apple’s upgrades represented “genuine product improvements.”
The trial, which began a few days ago, could last nearly three weeks. Apple’s late founder, Steve Jobs, is expected to testify via a videotaped deposition, reports the Associated Press.
A similar class action filed against Apple by a San Diego lawyer on behalf of indirect purchasers of iPods was dismissed earlier. Among other reasons, the district court found that a market-monopolization claim wasn’t factually supported, because iTunes pricing did not fluctuate when the competition against Apple changed.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in a 2013 opinion (PDF).
