Apple wins antitrust case over iPod music and DRM

June 7, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs poses with the new iPhone 4 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. [Reuters]


June 7, 2010: Apple CEO Steve Jobs poses with the new iPhone 4 during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, California. [Reuters]

A jury today ruled in favor of Apple in a long-running, class-action lawsuit that charged the tech giant with antitrust law violations over suppressing competition for iPod music devices.

The case was some ten years in the making, and took the jury about three hours to decide.

From the New York Times:

The lawsuit involved iPods sold between September 2006 and March 2009, which played songs sold in the iTunes Store, or those downloaded from CDs — not music from some competing stores. Apple was accused of violating antitrust law by using a copyright management system to lock people into buying iPods rather than cheaper alternatives.