The past can always come back to haunt any one of us, which makes it all the more important to actually think carefully of our actions before we actually indulge in them. Apple is right now, the company with a $700 billion market capitalization, but this does not mean that they are infallible as an organization. In fact, an antitrust lawsuit that was filed in 2005 will go on trial this week, touching on how Apple allegedly violated federal antitrust laws and California’s unfair competition law through the requirement of customers using an iPod to listen to music that has been purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
Apple did manage to have several claims struck from the class-action lawsuit that was filed by Thomas Slattery close to 10 years ago, but did not manage to get the entire lawsuit dismissed. The allegation remains that Apple attempted to maintain a monopoly on the portable media player and downloadable music markets through the issuance of updates to FairPlay, which is Apple’s DRM that locked iTunes purchases to Apple devices. It is said that the potential damages could hover around the $350 million mark should Apple emerge the loser from the trial.
What do you think the outcome from this upcoming trial will be like?