A federal jury has sided with Apple in the iPod antitrust case. Apple was accused of competing unfairly when it sold iPods and songs with copy-protection software that wouldn’t work on competing devices. The jury rejected the claim that Apple overcharged consumers for iPods by making it too hard to switch to competitor’s devices - music people bought through iTunes wouldn’t work on other players and iPods also deleted non-iTunes music purchases during updates. The jury deliberated for only three hours and then accepted Apple’s defense that the software was necessary to protect the devices. A spokesperson from Apple said “We created iPod and iTunes to give our customers the world’s best way to listen to music. Every time we’ve updated these products - and every Apple product over the years - we’ve done it to make the user experience even better.”
Apple doesn’t use that copy-protection software anymore. Plaintiffs were asking for $350 million in damages; that amount could have tripled if Apple was found guilty of violating antitrust laws.
