“Norway’s consumer agency said Wednesday it was not satisfied with concessions Apple Computer Inc. offered to Scandinavian regulators in response to their claims that the iPod maker is violating contract and copyright laws,” Jaime Espantaleon reports for The Associated Press.
“Consumer agencies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed in June that the iPod maker’s product usage restrictions go against Scandinavian laws. They contend that Apple’s system of making its market-leading iPod the only compatible portable player for iTunes downloads is illegal and tramples on consumer rights,” Espantaleon reports. “At the time, the Scandinavians said they were considering taking the Cupertino, Calif.-based company to court, possibly seeking an injunction banning iTunes from their markets.”
Espantaleon reports, “They received a 50-page response from Apple on Tuesday, but the company asked that segments of the transcript be treated as confidential.”
“‘This is not good enough,’ Bente Oeverli of the Norwegian consumer agency told The Associated Press, but added that ‘it seems we may reach an understanding on some points.’ Oeverli said the two sides still disagree on the crucial point – the ability to download music files to other players than iPod,” Espantaleon reports.
Espantaleon reports, “Apple said that limits posed by iTunes to the choice of players were not ‘unreasonable’ because ‘users can burn music to Compact Discs’ and then use these freely. ‘They have the freedom of choice and the mechanism does not violate competition laws,’ Apple’s letter also said.”
Full article here.
More, including Apple’s response letter in Norwegian, here: “Outside Your Area of Competence” is Apple’s Response to Norwegian Consumer Council
MacDailyNews Take: We must have missed the part where Apple held a gun to consumers’ heads and forced them to buy iPods and use iTunes and shop at the iTunes Music Store. You can use an iPod without using the iTunes Music Store. You can use the iTunes Music Store without using an iPod. So, how can either be anti-competitive?
Furthermore, the crux of the Scandinavians’ entire argument is fatally flawed. iPod is not the only compatible portable player for iTunes Music Store downloads. Motorola phones (sorry, Nokia – hey, maybe that’s the problem?) plus all the world’s millions of Mac and Windows notebooks are also compatible portable players for iTunes downloads. Sheesh, this one’s so easy, if it ever did go to trial, even Rob Enderle could win this case for Apple.
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Norway: iTMS DRM under scrutiny, Microsoft DRM next – June 09, 2006
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