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Apple Inc. in a new class-action lawsuit is charged with illegally tying iPods to its iTunes Store in order to forge a monopoly over the digital media market so it can inflate prices, exclude competition, and force consumers to continue to buy into its closed ecosystem.The 19-page formal complaint, originally filed in a Florida circuit court back in August, has since made its way through a Florida district court to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California upon Apple's request, as similar cases have been pending before a judge in that court for over two years. The suit was brought about by Florida resident Frederick Black on behalf of all Florida residents who have purchased an iPod or downloaded media from iTunes and faced restrictions, such that they cannot transfer content purchased from iTunes to a non iPod digital music player, nor can they download digital content from other online vendors to their iPods.Those limitations are not only frustrating, but unreasonable and illegal under Florida's antitrust and unfair trade laws, Black alleges, as consumers who may lose or break their iPod are unable to transfer songs purchased from iTunes to a different brand of player. Therefore they are forced to either purchase another iPod or forgo their right to use content already purchased from the iTunes service.Music and video content purchased from iTunes comes wrapped in Apple's copy protection layer dubbed Fairplay, which precludes its use on non-Apple hardware products. Although Apple could license the technology to other hardware manufacturers, it chooses not to so that it can continue to limit competition and maintain its monopolistic share of the digital media market.
