“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.
Related articles:
Norwegian council reviews Apple response to Nordic iTunes complaints – August 01, 2006
Can Scandinavians really force Apple to change iTunes Store terms? – June 16, 2006
Scandinavian triumvirate extends deadline to August 1 for Apple to reply to iTunes concerns – June 14, 2006
Norway gives Apple until June 21 to change iTunes Music Store terms – June 12, 2006
Norway: iTMS DRM under scrutiny, Microsoft DRM next – June 09, 2006
Consumer Council of Norway files a complaint regarding Apple iTunes Music Store’s terms of service – January 27, 2006
Gutted French ‘iTunes law’ ends up solving nothing – August 01, 2006
French anti-iTunes law deemed unconstitutional – July 31, 2006
Parts of French ‘iPod Law’ struck down as unconstitutional – July 28, 2006
French lawmakers give final approval to watered-down ‘iTunes law’ – June 30, 2006
Apple awaits final approval of French DRM Legislation – June 23, 2006
French lawmakers agree to water down DRM bill that would affect Apple’s iTunes – June 21, 2006
It’s no wonder EMI is supporting Apple in France – May 23, 2006
EMI backs Apple on French DRM law – May 23, 2006
BusinessWeek: still very possible that Apple will close iTunes Music Store in France – May 12, 2006
French copyright bill approved: Apple will not have to share FairPlay DRM details with competitors – May 11, 2006
French Senate vote could offer loophole for Apple’s iTunes – May 09, 2006
Vive l’iTunes! French ‘state-sponsored piracy’ DRM law gutted in committee – May 01, 2006
Force open Apple’s FairPlay? What has possessed the French this time? – April 27, 2006
French Trade Minister: Apple’s iTunes must play fair in French music market – April 14, 2006
JP Morgan: French DRM law will have limited impact on Apple Computer – March 28, 2006
Dvorak: What the French got right with proposed DRM law – March 28, 2006
Will Apple’s Steve Jobs bid France adieu? – March 22, 2006
Wired’s Kahney: Proposed French copyright protection law a good thing for consumers in the long run – March 22, 2006
Apple calls proposed French DRM law ‘state-sponsored piracy,’ predicts iPod sales increase – March 21, 2006
French National Assembly approves digital copyright bill; could affect Apple’s FairPlay DRM – March 21, 2006
Please excuse my fellow American idiots, like Cubert and Linux Guy, for bashing such a wonderful country as Norway. You must understand Americans live in a very deluded, mythologized state, indoctrinated into this “America Number One!” mentality from a very young age. Think of us as the rude version of Islamic militant fanatics: instead of having the decency of killing ourselves for our deeply held beliefs, we send our children overseas to blow everyone else up for whatever faddish fervor is in vogue. Remember the average mental age of an American is the equivalent of a spoiled 3 year old boy.
I want to be able to play Nintendo DS games on a psp. I want to be able to play XBox games on a playstation. They don’t seem to have a problem with that.
Ah, the Norwegian way. Sex on stage for all the kids to see. They must be enjoying the minimal sunlight and fossil fuel revenues:
http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article250240.ece
Yes, you have to subscribe to itunes (sign up and give card details) if you want to buy anything. Unless you get the gift certiicates….
iTunes sucks. Its about time there was a proper store with no country or other restrictions that sold music in a format that actually sounded OK on a proper hi-fi, not some kiddy mp3 player.
To borrow from Tom Lehrer, a great American:
Fortunately, in times of crisis like this, America always has its number one instrument of diplomacy to fall back on.
http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/marines.htm
@ Fanatic Realist
“Surely, Mr Oeverli has the cart ever so slightly before the horse”
That would be *Ms* Øverli.
John, I don’t have an iPod. I use iTunes to store my CD collection, organise it into ‘mood’ folders and pipe it to my music system. It’s free, it works, I can burn mixes for my car, no suscription needed. I have yet to find an alternative that will work on my Macs at home and the PC’s (soon to be replaced with Macs) in my office, perhaps you can suggest one kiddo.
A wonderful country does not kill whales. A stupid country does that. Japan is another stupid country.
More importantly, iTunes Music Store has MORE COWBELL!
Check out the free download from the Gossip.
P.S. Long time huge Tom Lehrer fan.
“Spring is here, a-suh-puh-ring is here.
Life is skittles and life is beer.
I think the loveliest time of the year is the spring.
I do, don’t you? ‘Course you do.
But there’s one thing that makes spring complete for me,
And makes every Sunday a treat for me.
All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
Every Sunday you’ll see
My sweetheart and me,
As we poison the pigeons in the park.
When they see us coming, the birdies all try an’ hide,
But they still go for peanuts when coated with cyanide.
The sun’s shining bright,
Everything seems all right,
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
We’ve gained notoriety,
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games.
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety,
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names.
But it’s not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon.
So if Sunday you’re free,
Why don’t you come with me,
And we’ll poison the pigeons in the park.
And maybe we’ll do
In a squirrel* or two,
While we’re poisoning pigeons in the park.
We’ll murder them all amid laughter and merriment,
Except for the few we take home to experiment.
My pulse will be quickenin’
With each drop of strych’nine
We feed to a pigeon.
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park.”
J go suck whale blubber
F’in’ Commies!
Steinar…
I stand corrected – but apart from getting the name and the gender wrong, I think my basic points are valid.
Yes Fanatic, and I thank you. One can always do without some of the bashing. Americans know that, don’t they?
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I disagree with most everything the Scandinavians want except one:
Apple says it has the right to change the terms of sale AFTER you have downloaded a song and paid for it.
That’s kind of ridiculous. The Scandinavians are right in wanting to get rid of that aspect of the iTunes.
Why doesn’t Apple just bill iTunes in Norway as selling music to play on Macs and PCs? They could describe the service as selling songs that are playable on any OS X or Windows computers and deemphasize the portable thing altogether – just to get around the legal mumbo jumbo.
You have all said it so well. I have nothing to add. I just wanted to be part of this thread. One thing: the Scandinavian people I’ve met have been wonderful. There is, however, a poison that incidiously creeps in when you are indoctinated into believing that if someone has something, by rights you should have it too. It slowly erodes the idea of personal effort bringing personal rewards. The governments regularly use their power in these countries to exercise social engineering. Examples: Denmark wants its citizens to drive cars less, so it levies a tax almost equivalent to the car’s purchase price. To pay for some necessary program that benefits the populace? No. The tax is simply meant to make it damn hard for the average Dane to buy a car. Sweden wants its citizens to drink less so it taxes the hell out of booze. Of course we do it here too, to a slightly less extent. But it is wrong everywhere to use the power of the tax revenue collectors to engineer individual behavior.
My hat goes off to all countries that try to outlaw DRM. I wish our congressmen and congresswomen looked at for its citizens like that. But noooo, our representatives receive too many incentives from the RIAA and the MPAA.
I don’t buy from iTunes because I refuse to pay for something with DRM. Sure, iTMS is the best online store. And the iPod is the best portable music player.
I don’t need or want DRM. It isn’t preventing me from pirating music. Because I don’t. Even if I could purchase my songs from iTunes without DRM. If I didn’t want to pay for my music, the DRM wouldn’t do a damn thing to prevent me from downloading it illegally. So why have it at all?
And why does everyone always bring up the ability to burn CD’s? Guess what, there’s DRM in the videos and tv shows too. And you can’t burn DVD’s from them. So how is the DRM not restrictive there?
DRM is bad. Even Apple’s.
Ignore John. He probably only listens to old Donny Osmond albums on his LP and never actually used itunes.
The iTunes Music store is not a commodity to be controlled. There are so many sources of the music that forcing Apple to “open up” is unrealistic.
Perhaps someone in the Norwegian government purchased another brand of player and is cranky they can’t download from the Music Store.
I say, Apple send him an iPod and and a free subscription (maybe John’s old “subscription”) and the whole demand will go away.
John
You don’t “subscribe” to iTunes, but you are required to “register” with the iTunes Music Store. Two very different things.
And I don’t want to “subscribe” to McDonalds either. They make me use my atm every time I go get a hamburger. And the cleaners, they make me subscribe when I go get a shirt cleaned.
But Urge, and Rhapsody.. they don’t make me subscribe do they?
(crickets…….)
Nokia is not a Scandinavian company it is from Finland ie Fennoskandian Company.
Fennoskandia=Scandinavian peninsula + Finland + Karelia + Kola Peninsula.
Scandinavia=Norway +Sweden ie Scandinavian peninsula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Peninsula
Nokia is not a Scandinavian company it is from Finland ie Fennoskandian Company.
Fennoskandia=Scandinavian peninsula + Finland + Karelia + Kola Peninsula.
Scandinavia=Norway +Sweden ie Scandinavian peninsula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scandinavian_Peninsula
Why aren’t the Governments of the world making legislation so that you can use any cellular phone with any service provider that you want? Whats the difference?
It would be interesting to see what Sweden make of Zune when it’s released, seeing as it’s based on the same business model as iTMS.
I guarantee that they will let it through without question – proof that all this is to do with lobbying (paying off) of key people by Microsoft, in the same way they did with Apple Corps.
Something stinks here and I smell the faint whiff of Redmond.
Reading the various documents available in Norwegian makes it abundantly clear that what we are seeing is an attack specifically directed against Apple, for the purpose of helping Microsoft by damaging Apple. The representatives of the Consumer Council obviously have an inadequate understanding of Norwegian law, and even less of an understanding of the impact of European law on allowable Norwegian practices. The arguments against Apple are strained beyond the breaking point. There obviously is no concern for the Norwegian consumer, nor for Norwegian law, nor for European law. There is a major concern for serving the pompous, self-centered incompetence of some Consumer Council employees. They are setting themselves up for major embarrassment, very likely in Norwegian courts, and definitely in a European court. The whole affair has a strong odor of a prevalent pro-Microsoft cult that is bent on saving Norway from anything that is not Microsoft.