Mehri & Skalet, along with co-counsel, filed a complaint on behalf of purchasers of Apple’s iPod portable music devices and iTunes digital music alleging that Apple has engaged in monopolistic behavior by maintaining obsolete “digital rights management” (DRM) encoding on music downloaded from the iTunes Store.
The lawsuit alleges that the DRM encoding on iTunes Store downloads prohibits the music from being played on non-apple devices. This in effect locks customers into a lifetime of purchasing Apple music products or having to choose between losing the music library they had accumulated through the iTunes Store, potentially hundreds, even thousands of dollars in music downloads, or paying substantial fees to have the DRM encoding removed.
Through this litigation M&S is seeking injunctive relief mandating that Apple “unlock” the DRM encoded files enabling their use on any platform. We are also seeking a refund of any charges customers have previously paid to unlock their files.
The initial complaint in this case was filed in December 2007 and an amended complaint was filed in 2010.
If you have purchased DRM-encoded music files from Apple and would like to learn more about the case or how to participate, please contact us.