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Thu, 06 Nov 2008 Apple response on Norwegian iTunes case fails to impress

Norway's consumer protection official is not satisfied with Apple's response to his issue with iTunes DRM restrictions violating the country's laws

Mikael Ricknäs

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Apple has responded to the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman's plan to bring an iTunes case before the country's Market Council, but Apple's answer hasn't impressed the official. He now expects the case to go before the council in March or April next year.

Apple has been in the sights of Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon for more than two years. The iTunes contract terms breach the Norwegian Marketing Control Act, according to Thon.

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"It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use. iTunes makes this impossible or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law," he said in a statement on 29 September, when the plan to submit the case to the local Market Council was announced.

Apple had until Monday to submit comments on Thon's decision. "We have received an answer from iTunes, but it was an answer that didn't add anything of substance. We will now continue what we have done so far, prepare to bring the case before the Market Council," said Thon.

The company is keeping a low profile. Adam Howorth, head of Apple Music PR in Europe, declined to comment on the matter.

Thon wants all tracks on iTunes, as well as other music stores, to work on any music player, either by removing DRM (digital rights management) restrictions or by making FairPlay, Apple's DRM system, interoperable with devices other than iPods. The latter was ruled out by Apple CEO Steve Jobs in his February 2007 "Thoughts on Music" letter, which Apple still refers to when asked about the subject.

If the Market Council sides with the ombudsman, and Apple still doesn't want to comply, fines can be handed down.

The issue could be solved before March or April, since DRM-free downloads will be one of the major trends in the music industry going forward, said Ian Henderson, vice president, EMEA digital music development, at Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

It has started to take off this year, but will make a major impact during 2009, said Henderson.

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Comments received


Gabriel said on Fri, 07 Nov 2008

So the same Norway that voted "Yes" to OOXML, despite an overwhelming majority of their committee voting "No", is now going after Apple about something it has no control over.

Here's a bright idea, Norway: GO AFTER THE @#$@#% MUSIC COMPANIES!! They've already been trying to squeeze Apple out of its top spot in the marketplace by withholding DRM-free music. All you're doing is helping those same music companies back Apple into a corner when it comes to negotiations. (Which may be a sign that there's some cause-and-effect going on here… after all, the OOXML fiasco has shown that at least some highly-placed folks in Norway will dance to the tune of someone else's money.)

And the quote at the end from the Sony guy, trumpeting DRM-free music downloads, is amusingly incongruous and hypocritical, as Sony is one of the companies deliberately withholding DRM-free music from iTunes. Intersting that the article-writer here doesn't seem to notice that discrepancy.

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