Apple and record labels abandoned digital rights management protection in iTunes Store music purchases years ago. Still, an antitrust lawsuit on the matter first filed in 2005 is set to go to trial this week, reports AppleInsider (http://tinyurl.com/l7vymkw).
In October U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers denied Apple’s motion for summary judgment in a case that dates back to 2004 and involves the use of digital rights management for content sold through the iTunes Store, opening the suit to move to the trial phase.
The class-action lawsuit was filed nearly a decade ago by Thomas Slattery, who alleged that Apple violated federal antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law by requiring that customers use an iPod to listen to music purchased from the iTunes Music Store. Apple managed to have some claims struck from the complaint in 2005, but wasn’t successful in having the lawsuit dismissed.