Today Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple. This French online music store claims that Apple"s refusal to license its Fairplay technology for its iPod is damaging competition. This complaint comes shortly after Real introduced its "Harmony" software, which enables music purchased from its store to play on Apple"s iPod. How is it damaging competition when no other portable audio player can hold a candle to Apple"s iPod (market share & ease of use)? I feel that if a company made the product it should be allowed to license it to whomever they want (under legal circumstances). It"s pretty screwed up when other companies start filing lawsuits demanding that Apple licenses its copy protection technology just so they can make more money off Apple"s hard work.
French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming that the company"s refusal to license the copy protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition.
The action was filed with the French Competition Council in June and disclosed along with several other legal matters on Thursday as part of Apple"s quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. According to the filing, the online store, part of the Virgin family, is seeking various unspecified "interim measures," pending a decision on the merits of the case. A hearing on that request is expected in either October or November, Apple said in the filing.
An Apple representative declined to comment further on the Virgin dispute. A Virgin representative was not immediately available for comment. A number of media companies, most prominently RealNetworks, have called on Apple to open up its FairPlay digital rights technology so that other digital music services can securely transfer files onto Apple"s iPod player. FairPlay blocks people from making unlimited copying of songs but also makes sure that the iPod doesn"t work with any other kind of copy-protected formats.