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Apple set to go to trial in November over FairPlay DRM and iTunes lock-in
The year isn't 2007 so you might be surprised to learn that Apple, in 2014, still has a pending legal class action suit regarding iPods and the FairPlay DRM that used to shroud every song sold on iTunes. The lawsuit dates all the way back to 2004 and alleges that Apple in the mid-2000s illegally used DRM to lock in users to the Apple ecosystem by making the cost of switching prohibitively high. The plaintiffs in the case are seeking $350 million in damages. Ars Technica reports: Last week, US District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers gave the green light (PDF) to sending a long-running antitrust lawsuit against Apple to trial. Plaintiffs in the case say that Apple used its FairPlay DRM system to "lock in" its customers and make it costly to switch to technology built by competitors, like Real Networks. They describe how Apple kept updating iTunes to make sure songs bought from Real's competing digital music store couldn't be used on iPods. As a result of this lock-in, Apple was able to overcharge its customers to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. With Judge Rogers finding Apple's recent effort to have the case dismissed unpersuasive, the case is slated to go to trial on November 17.
Steve Jobs ordered to provide antitrust deposition
There are some days when it feels like Steve Jobs is the only person who works at Apple, judging by the number of times his name is cited when anyone has a complaint against the company. Now, a US judge has ordered him to answer questions relating to monopolistic behavior over the iPod and the iTunes Store back in 2004. Then, Apple made changes to the iPod software which disrupted RealNetwork's Harmony software, designed to allow songs purchased from the RealNetworks online store to be transferred to the iPod. Thomas Slattery, who filed the class action suit against Apple in 2005, said this violated antitrust and unfair competition laws. At worst, lawyers can force Steve Jobs to spend two hours answering questions for a deposition on the matter, although Apple lawyers are pushing to have the whole case dismissed next month -- parts of it have already been dismissed. Today, you can put music downloaded or ripped from just about anywhere on your iPod, iPhone or iPad via iTunes, and music tracks sold in the iTunes Store no longer come with DRM. "The court finds that Jobs has unique, non-repetitive, firsthand knowledge about the issues at the center of the dispute over RealNetworks software," said magistrate Judge Howard R. Lloyd in San Jose, California. Like I said, some days Steve Jobs is the only person who's ever worked at Apple. [Via Macstories]
RealNetworks to spin off Rhapsody, give up control
Seems like times are tough in the streaming music game -- Warner is making noise about dropping free streaming rights to its catalog, and now RealNetworks and Viacom have announced plans to spin off the Rhapsody subscription service. The new company will obviously be known as Rhapsody, and both Real and Viacom will hold a sub-50 percent stake in the outfit and remain on the board of directors. Real's also contributing $18m in cash to the cause, while Viacom's committed to providing $33m in advertising -- we'll see if Rhapsody can make it on its own once that all runs out.
CEPro breaks down Real and Kaleidescape cases, uncovers more questions
It's been a rough week for DVD copying services from Real and Kaleidescape, and public understanding of the whole DVD copying mess hasn't been spared. People like to watch DVDs and lawyers like to get paid, however, so we're willing to bet there's more to come. CEPro has put together a breakdown of the issues at hand, which not only makes for some good reading but also shows just how far from any real clarity we are. Whether it's legal to make bit-for-bit copies, but illegal to view them; legal to use copying tools, but illegal to produce them; or just plain mean to do something Hollywood doesn't want you to, consumers are going to push for media convenience. We're still hoping Blu-ray's Managed Copy gives us enough wiggle room on our HD digital handcuffs, but sadly, it seems like DVD fans can pick between taking up residence in legal limbo while the courts struggle to catch up with tech or just strip the CSS from discs and get on with their lives.
Court injunction puts sales of RealDVD on ice, hopes and dreams in purgatory
Something tells us Kaleidescape has a man (or woman, to be fair) on the inside, else United States District Court Judge Marilyn Patel is just downright trifilin'. In every visible way, RealNetworks' proposed RealDVD player was exactly what Kaleidescape was, but for people with annual salaries far less than $9,854,392,220. Regardless of our opinion, a preliminary injunction has just been passed down from The Almighty in the robe, which blocks the sale of the RealDVD software here in the US. The six major movie studies filed the suit last September, alleging that it "illegally violated their right to restrict the use of their movies in digital form." Evidently those that matter agree. A RealNetworks spokesperson took the time to vent their feelings on the whole ordeal, and since we know you're curious, we've pasted it below for your convenience.We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD. We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.[Via Electronista]
RealDVD ripping software heads to court, fair use advocates on pins and needles
Let's face it -- quite a lot is resting on the outcome of this case. For months now, RealNetworks has been unable to legally sell its RealDVD movie ripping software after a court issued a temporary restraining order that remains valid until it's decided if the application violates the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Now, the software is finally having its day in court, and the outcome could shape the future of the DVD player (for better or worse). You see, Real has already assembled a prototype Facet device that hums along on Linux; essentially, this DVD playing machine would sell for around $300 and could store up to 70 movies internally. On the surface, this sounds entirely like a poor man's Kaleidescape, but only time will tell if The Man agrees. Cross your fingers folks, we get the feeling fair use advocates are going to need the luck.
Court bans sales of RealDVD indefinitely
It look like Hollywood's won the first round in court against RealNetworks' RealDVD DVD-ripping software -- Judge Maralyn Hall Patel (of Napster fame, remember her?) ruled yesterday that a temporary restraining order blocking sales of the software will stay in place indefinitely until she decides whether it violates the DMCA. The central issue is whether or not making a bit-for-bit copy of a DVD constitutes circumventing copy protection: the studios claim the encryption keys must be read off the disk under the terms of the license agreement, and RealNetworks obviously disagrees. There's a lot at play here, including the studios' argument that fair use doesn't serve as a defense to backing up DVDs, so we'll be tracking this one closely -- it's sadly clear to us that Hollywood's fight here is against consumers having flexibility with their media, since it lost the battle against actual piracy ages ago.
Boingz catapults onto WiiWare later this month
Relax, it's not more Ubisoft shovelware. Boingz is a WiiWare puzzler/platformer from Ninja Bee and Real Networks, and one we have (shamefully) yet to discuss here. So let's correct that now!Boingz are armless creatures lost on an alien world, and it's your job to help them navigate 30 levels and locate magical gates that will take our stretchable friends home. As well as walking from side to side, the colorful Boingz can be maneuvered by being pulled, stretched and flicked through levels, as well as being nailed down to rocks and walls to create bridges for fellow Boingz to cross.It's essentially Lemmings then, though a more contemporary comparison would be Toki Tori, a title we were big fans of. If Boingz can show up our lack of puzzle-solving smarts as much as that game did, we could have a winner here. Expect it to land on the third or fourth Monday of October.%Gallery-33987%
Joystiq hands-on: Boingz (WiiWare)
The unlikely pairing of Real Networks (you know, the RealPlayer folks) and Ninja Bee (you, uh, might know – they've done Outpost Kaloki X, Band of Bugs, and the upcoming A Kingdom for Keflings for XBLA), Boingz is a spring-physics-based puzzle-platformer for WiiWare reminiscent of a slower-paced Lemmings.In this case, the Boingz – stretchy, sleepy creatures – need to be directly maneuvered to various exits in the level, rather than just mindlessly marching forward. In addition to using the Wiimote to "pinch" their heads and snap them skyward at various angles, we were able to pin them to the environment in order to create bridges, or to rocks so that we might pick up sparkly underwater treasure.%Gallery-33802%
Ninja Bee's Boingz! coming this month to WiiWare [update]
Bite-sized games developer Ninja Bee and Real Networks have announced Boingz! The WiiWare title was just presented at Nintendo's press conference, so all we've got at the moment is initial impressions, which give us a smaller LittleBigPlanet meets LocoRoco feel. The 2D-3D puzzle platformer has players controlling elastic creatures -- we believe are called The Boingz, which have similar powers to Gloop and Gleep from The Herculoids -- that can be grabbed, stretched and flicked across the 30 levels in the game. We've contacted Ninja Bee's PR team for more details and images. Update: Boingz has been submitted to Nintendo for approval and will be out this month. Either Oct. 20 or 27.%Gallery-33561%
Hollywood hates fair use, sues over RealDVD
We knew Hollywood wouldn't let RealNetworks sell its RealDVD DVD-ripping-and-archiving software without a fight, and right on schedule, six major studios have filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent it from being sold. Of course, RealNetworks has been planning on hiding behind that Kaleidescape ruling all along, but straight CSS circumvention isn't really what's at the heart of the suit: according to the studios' request for a restraining order, consumers won't be able to contain themselves in the face of RealDVD's voodoo magic and will start ripping rental DVDs en masse -- seriously, the suit calls the incentive to do so "all but overwhelming." Here's a hint, guys: if you believe the temptation to do something is that strong, it probably means you can get people to pay to do it -- and you should probably be working out a business model that embraces consumers instead of funding new BMWs for your lawyers while actual piracy tears down the fragile house of cards your entire industry is built on. Or you know, whatever.
RealNetworks joining the XBLA bandwagon?
Buried in a news report about RealNetworks purchasing a company called Game Trust -- which should expand Real Networks' RealArcade features -- it was revealed that the company has begun working on casual titles for home consoles. While no specific titles have been announced, nor has support for XBLA been explicitly confirmed, Real's VP of game content Erik Goossens did note that console development is "happening as we speak." It's worth noting that Game Trust was purchased by Real so that the company could use Game Trust's technology to implement community features (leaderboards, chat, etc.) into its games. Sounds like exactly the sort of features you'd need to make an XBLA game, doesn't it?[Via XBLArcade]
Universal and Rhapsody launch DRM-free partnership "test"
Rhapsody America (the new Real / MTV partnership) wasn't the only thing that Real had up its sleeve today. Hot on the heels of the Universal snubbing of iTunes, and consequent announcement that the company would begin selling music via other outlets, comes today's news that the Rhapsody / Universal Music partnership has officially launched, at least in a limited "test" form, with the aim of selling UMG's catalog of thousands of tracks -- sans DRM -- via the Real Rhapsody service, charging $.89 per song for subscribers and $.99 for non-subscribers. Currently, only a select group of artists are up for grabs, including 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse, The Pussycat Dolls, The Police and Johnny Cash, though the plan is to make Universal's entire catalog available in the future. This announcement makes what we all knew was coming now abundantly clear -- the gloves have come off.
