“French online music store Virgin Mega has filed a complaint against Apple Computer, claiming the company’s refusal to license the copy-protection technology used in its iPod is harming competition,’ Ina Fried reports for CNET News. “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 Securities and Exchange Commission.”
Full article here.
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People are so litigous. Stop freaking whining when no one wants to use your service. I don’t see K-Mart suing Wal-Mart for putting them out of business.
I’m sure that “The French Competition Council” will render a fair judgement.
No-one using your service because it’s substandard??? Can’t be bothered sorting out your own integrated model that works????
Why not SUE???
Lawsuits.
The practical alternative to innovation.
Sounds like spitting to me. Just like spitting on Lance.
The French should have sued the Germans over unfair competition in WW II.
That is pretty funny ABQ Peter, and I’m French… How American to sue though!
thanks ABQ Peter – that made me laugh.
silly french. I like Dave H’s comments, too – Lawsuits, the practical alternative to innovation! that was funny.
Why does the government make people license proprietary technology? That is retarded. Well, it is France.
The reason Apple doesn’t want to license thier stuff isn’t because they are afraid people will use Real or whatever on the iPod, but that people could use iTunes on another player. I think that is the real reason they are keeping it to themselves. Despite the fact that the iPod is superior, dumb people think that cheaper is always better. Trust me, I deal with these idiots daily. People who don’t buy music, DVD’s, or anything for that matter. They just download things if they can. On their cheap POS Pee Seas, no less. These are the same that think saving $50 on an mp3 player is a deal, even if it is a POS. Then they poke fun at me because I use a Mac because I’m an elitist.
Better to be elitist than a bottom-feeder.
Most people are cheap, lazy, and stupid. This is evidenced by the Pee Sea market share. People will put up with a lot of problems and wasted money and time for a Pee Sea. Like someone said, maybe we don’t want all of them on our side.
</end rant now>
So what if this was microsoft and not Apple – I wonder if they would sue then??
At the end of the day if apple dosn’t want to licence fairplay, it dosn’t – and no law in the land can force a company to sell something that it don’t want to sell!
dumbass french ….
Well, I’m part French (Canadian), so I thought I could say that, and yes, it is something learned from Americans, no double about it.
Actually, saying that lawsuits are an American thing is really false. Ancient Egyptians are known to have filed lawsuits in their time. In this article about Ancient Egyptian Law, it even states “The ultimate authority in the settlement of disputes was the pharaoh, whose decrees were supreme. Because of the complex nature of legal administration, the pharaoh delegated powers to provincial governors and other officials. Next to the pharaoh, the most powerful individual was the vizier, who directed all administrative branches of the government. He sat in judgment on court cases and appointed magistrates as part of his legal duties.”
Interestingly enough, it also goes on to say, “Legal judgments pertaining to the family and rights of succession clearly demonstrate that women as well as men were granted full rights under the laws of ancient Egypt. Women owned and bequeathed property, filed lawsuits, and bore witness in court proceedings without the authority of their father or husband”.
While this has nothing to do with Virgin’s complaint, I felt I had to address the whole “Suing is an American Invention” thing.
Now…who wants to know more about the Rings of Saturn?
Does Virgin have to design and manufacturer its own player in order for it to sell music?
Next thing
Why SHOULDN’T they be able to sell to iPod users.
They’re just selling music. If their music store is inferior… then so be it… people won’t buy from them… in that case, what’s the problem?
Why protect something that doesn’t need protecting?
Can a company sue because another company won’t grant you a liscense? Maybe Apple just doesn’t want to do business with Virgin, as they had no problem granting a liscense to motorolla. It’s Apple’s choice, not the courts.
I did a little check on iTMS France. I notice that many Virgin Records artists are carried there. So it’s obvious that they don’t have a huge problem with using Apple to make a buck or two. They just want the bun and the penny, as my grandmother used to say.
When you log on to Virgin Mega, it tells you that in order to access the site with a Mac, you must use Internet Explorer. It didn’t seem to work with anything else. If that isn’t “harming competition” I don’t know what is!!
You know how a company can beat Apple? Negotiate like hell with the recording industry. Convince the powers that be that DRM is bad. Once you can do that, start selling non-DRM music in unencoded formats. Basically, a copy of the CD or song. Give the user the ability to download an mp3 or ogg or a lossless format for a little more. People will flock to your record store. And the music will be compatible with the iPod unless Apple becomes so stupid that they change the firmware in the iPod to only accept iTMS based music.
So there’s your answer music stores. Its up to you to convince the RIAA of the downsides of DRM. Don’t spin your wheels trying to use Apple’s DRM. Spend your time trying to get rid of DRM all together.
Or better yet. Forget about the RIAA. Convince the artists themselves to sell their music through your store. Provided of course that they are not under the shackles of the RIAA.
thank you DakRoland for the history lesson.
in other news, 2/3 people leaving in Washington DC were found to have a law degree. starting in the mid 80, post graduate schools started dishing Law degrees at an alarming rate throughout the USA making lawyers the most currently held profession quickly outpacing insurance salesmen.
Asked why so many: “everyone’s need a lawyer, even lawyers.” replied a malpractice lawyer. Everyone that is except for Saddam Hussein. But this will quickly change because he has been taking courses online from Shock&Awe;_University.com, a B.S. school well versed in American Law system.
There is a world of difference between Virgin Records, which has been owned by EMI for many years, and the Virginmega empire which is still a part of the empire of the ludicrously toothy Mr. Branson.
iPod, iTunes and iTMS are part of a secure holistic solution: if the WMA guys want to compete, maybe they should try and design a total solution that the public wants to buy. Or, alternatively, admit that WMA is a piece of crap and change flags once and for all.
what are they complaining about? they’ll be lisencing Harmony in a couple weeks right?
*snicker
This is alarming:
Virgin is implying that being a competitor is somehow UNFAIR.
So, if you are making lots of money, you must share with others, even your direct competitors, because it’s unfair that you don’t.
So is this MOB logic, or what? It’s like the contractors in my town who used to find contractors with jobs and force themselves into the job and make a cut. Except Virgin does not even want to work for the harassed crew. They want their own job.
LUDICROUS!
BTW, why is this case taking place in France? Is there something specific about French law? Is the council set up to deal with monopolies – which of course iTunes and Fairplay is NOT!
So many people have accused AAC and Fairplay of being monopolistic! Umm, nothing is monopolistic if Apple is not forcing Best Buy not to carry Rio players, or artists not to sign with Virgin. That WOULD be monopolistic clout. In the case of Apple, it’s the market clout. If more and more people buy iPods and iTunes, and Apple’s competitors can’t gain any market, that has nothing to do with Apple’s CHOICE to keep Fairplay closed.
Since when is a business a charity? Sure, you can’t be a monopoly, but you can sure run your business anyway you like.
WHY DIDN’T THEY MAKE A RED iPOD with the Virgin Logo.. like HP?!
Apple couldn’t FORCE Best Buy not to sell Rio products (unless they hired some gangsters); Apple could just decide they don’t want to sell to Best Buy if they stock Rio products, which is also Apple’s choice. Anti-trust law does NOT prevent Apple from doing that–and shouldn’t–unless plaintiffs could demonstrate customer harm.
If this silly French “competitiveness” council tries to telling Apple how it should compete, the best solution would be for Apple to stop selling iPods/iTMS in France. Let the paid-off French pols try explaining that one to their public…
just license the shit and start making better f&*6king Macs again.
It will be interesting to see how this turns out. If they have a legitimate beef I wonder why no suits were filed in the US. Maybe there is some French Law they are using. At any rate it will give further publicity to Apple on music and that is a good thing. I guess this is “welcome to the world of majority market share”.
Am I missing smething here?
Virgin is a seller of music?
We want to sell ipods.
If ipod users can buy music from multiple source, better for the platform. There’s little profit in apple selling music, it’s a cost they’ve accepted to sell ipods.
Would not Apple want to expand the base of music sellers, in order to sell more ipods? ACC could be licensed for the encoding and distribution of music?
Just remember the last time Apple didn’t want to sell it’s technology: 90% of computer users look at a MS/windows screen.