Ten Years of Litigation: iPod DRM, Jobs, and 8 Million Users

[[123745]]

Old iPod users may remember that Apple was very strict about the management of music in iTunes. iPod users could only buy music in the iTunes store, and the music they bought in other music stores could not be played in iPod. This strict measure laid the foundation for the success of the iPod + iTunes model, which can basically be regarded as a prototype of the current iPhone + App Store. Apple has built a closed ecosystem.

One of the cornerstones of Apple's construction of the closed iTunes ecosystem was the iPod's DRM digital rights management. DRM is generally used for file encryption and anti-piracy. Apple's DRM technology is called FairPlay. This technology, combined with iPod and iTunes, firmly controls users in Apple's own ecosystem. Other players and music stores cannot cross the DRM moat.

By 2009, Apple began to abandon the FairPlay DRM copyright encryption technology in digital music, but similar technology is still used in the App Store. Apple's end of FairPlay DRM copyright encryption in iPod does not mean that the matter is over. Ten years ago, Apple was sued for this move. iPod users filed a class action lawsuit, accusing Apple of violating anti-federal antitrust laws and California unfair competition laws. At that time, Apple gave some compensation to the lawsuit, but the lawsuit is still ongoing.

Earlier, Apple's rival in the music market, RealNetworks, had bypassed DRM, allowing users to play music purchased from the Real Music Store on their iPods. Later, Apple and RealNetworks fought over this issue several times, and Apple eventually blocked the path for users to access RealNetworks music from iPads. The focus of the lawsuit was that Apple refused to license the FairPlay technology to other companies, which was suspected of monopoly.

In 2006, the famous Free Software Foundation launched an "anti-DRM campaign", calling the technology a flawed design. Apple's iPod became the focus of criticism, and there were even posters satirizing it.

[[123746]]

Because of the closed loop formed by iPod + iTunes + DRM, and Apple's continuous technological updates to block the attacks of competitors, Apple has become a frequent visitor to the court. Although by 2009, Apple, which was already a leader in the digital music field, gave up DRM encryption in this market, the lawsuit was still not over. In early 2011, Jobs was even forced to appear in court.

Today, a class action lawsuit involving 8 million users once again put Apple on the defendant's bench. These users purchased iPod products from 2006 to 2008 and they are seeking $350 million in damages from Apple. According to Ars Technica, the Apple team had a very heated debate with the plaintiff's lawyers and jurors, and the overall atmosphere was not harmonious.

According to the New York Times, Jobs' testimony in court in 2011 and related emails have become the key to this class action lawsuit. Some of the emails have been made public. At that time, Apple's iTunes had some competitors, not only RealNetworks, but also Music Match, which was about to launch its own digital music store. Jobs was worried about this and hoped to cut off the connection between Music Match and iPod.

This is not the only court summons Apple has received for suspected monopoly issues. Apple was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice for antitrust violations because of its conspiracy with five major booksellers to raise the price of e-books to fight against Amazon. The previous trial ruled that Apple must pay $450 million to compensate users and pay related litigation costs. Apple chose to appeal again, and the relevant trial will be launched soon.

The Verge believes that several hundred million dollars in compensation is nothing for Apple, which has a quarterly profit of $8.5 billion and a market value of $700 billion. However, Apple does not want to spend money to avoid disaster every time, and the right and wrong of these things can only be clarified by the court's decision.