blob: 24609da44968763dbeb92f4f2eae10159a257ee3 (
plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
|
Just hours after iTunes and EMI announced DRM-free digital downloads, the European Commission has [announced that it will pursue antitrust charges against Apple][2] and the record companies Apple partners with for the iTunes Store. The EU says it has sent formal charges to the major record companies and Apple, alleging that the iTunes store restricts music sales in Europe.
The EU's beef with iTunes is that because there is no European-wide store, rather each country has its own store, users are restricted in their choice of where to buy and what music is available at what price.
Apple claims that it wants to create an EU version of the iTunes store, but that it is hemmed in by the record companies. In a statement released earlier today Apple claims that it tried to do a pan-European store but was, "advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us."
The price of a single song download varies considerably throughout the 27 nation European Union. For instance, a song will cost you $1.56 in the U.K. but would only be $1.32 in countries using the Euro.
One thing not included in the antitrust allegation is DRM. Norway and a number of other countries may bring their own legal actions regarding the way Apple allegedly uses DRM to create a lock-in with the iPod, but today's EU charges do not address the DRM issue.
Macworld UK [reports][1] that the EU has dropped the DRM investigation entirely.
[1]: http://www.macworld.co.uk/ipod-itunes/news/index.cfm?newsid=17479&pagtype=allchandate " Apple won't face EU action on iTunes-iPod tie-in"
[2]: http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSL0252503020070403?feedType=RSS "EU charges record companies, Apple on record sales"
|
