“Negotiations with Apple have made ‘surprising progress’ toward resolving a dispute with Scandinavian governments about restrictions on music purchased from the iTunes music store, Norway’s official consumer advocate said Monday,” Thomas Crampton reports for The International Herald Tribune. “‘Our meeting was much more constructive than I expected it would be,’ said Bjorn Erik Thon, director of the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman’s office.”
“But fully resolving the dispute could require Apple to change the iTunes business model. Norway and other Scandinavian countries had complained formally about how iTunes customers were not able to play songs on music devices that compete with iPod,” Crampton reports.
“The four-hour meeting Monday also included government representatives from Sweden, Denmark and Finland, which have similar consumer protection laws and had agreed to follow Norway’s lead on the case,” Crampton reports. “Interoperability, the ability of iTunes customers to play music on portable devices other than the iPod, was just one of five issues discussed.”
“Other lines of conflict discussed included Apple’s refusal to accept liability for damage to a computer that might be caused by the iTunes software; Apple’s assertion that the contract terms can change after purchase of a song and Apple’s assertion that English law can apply to purchases in Norway,” Crampton reports.
Full article here.
[Attribution: Macworld UK. Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Er, exactly where’s all of this progress with which we’re supposed to be surprised?
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