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iTunes user suing Apple

A customer of the iTunes Music Store is suing Apple because the store obliges him to buy an iPod after buying music.

Thomas Slattery, who is suing Apple for anticompetitive behavior, alleges that "Apple has turned an open and interactive standard into an artifice that prevents consumers from using the portable hard drive digital music player of their choice." Slattery also stated that he was ÒforcedÓ into buying an iPod just to listen to the music he had bought from the iTunes Music Store.

Slattery will have quite the challenge convincing the California District Court of its merits. To leverage the Sherman Act (the act that deals with anticompetitive business activities and monopolies) Slattery must prove that Apple is a monopoly then that it abused its position as the leader in the industry to suppress competition to the detriment of consumers.

Ironically Microsoft, who is a convicted monopolist, has also argued that AppleÕs digital music monopoly is too restrictive.

Apple will most likely argue that iTunes doesnÕt forclose other distribution channels.

For the full story:
The Register - Apple music store smacked with antitrust suit