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iPods
The class action lawsuit filed against Apple over allegations it unfairly used the iPod and iTunes to monopolise the digital music market hangs by a thread following the withdrawal of one plaintiff.
The company has filed to have the case dismissed after one of the two accusers decided they had not actually purchased an iPod between the time period identified in the suit.
The acknowledgement the media player was not bought between September 2006 and March 2009 leaves just one plaintiff standing in the $350m lawsuit.
The ongoing trial has sought to establish whether the firm inhibited competition by preventing iTunes files working on rival devices and whether it kept digital music prices artificially high as a result of its early stranglehold on the market.
Throughout this week, the court has heard how Apple deliberately deleted files on users' iPods which bought from rival services.
Just yesterday Apple’s iTunes boss Eddy Cue took the stand to defend Apple’s use of a bespoke DRM technology in order to protect music files, making them incompatible with other devices.
Cue asserted the iTunes/iPod ecosystem was under constant threat from hackers who attempted to steal files from the platform. He also claimed music labels threatened to remove their music from the platform unless it was protected.
Should the lawsuit succeed the estimated 8 million users affected should be in for a major windfall.
The plaintiffs will be able to respond to Apple’s motion to dismiss next week. Seeing as Apple alleges that user also didn’t purchase the device within the specified timeframe, the ‘decade in the making’ trial seems to be on rocky ground.
Read more: Apple iPhone 6 Plus review
Via: NYT Bits