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'Deceitful' Apple Sued by French Consumer Group
by , 9:00 AM EST, February 14th, 2005
A French consumer group is suing Apple Computer and Sony claiming the iTunes Music Store and Sony's Connect service are anti-competitive because they only work with the companies' own music players.
UFC-Que Choisir, the Paris-based consumer group, has sent a court summons to the French subsidiaries of Apple and Sony, according to Les Echos, the French sister newspaper of the Financial Times.
UFC-Que Choisir called the practice of both companies "deceitful" and asked the court to fine both companies.
It is the second time that Apple has faced a legal challenge in France. Last year, VirginMega failed in its attempt to force the company to open up the iPod and its digital rights management technology, known a Fairplay, so consumers could buy music from other online services and play them on other devices. That complaint was rejected in November 2004 by the French Competition Council which ruled that "access to (the iPod) isn't indispensible to the development of legal platforms for the downloading of online music."
A similiar complaint was filed against Apple last year in Great Britain. In September, Britian's Consumers' Association accused Apple of overcharging its UK customers to download music from iTMS and filed a complaint with the governmental Office of Fair Trading (OFT) requesting an investigation. No decision has yet been handed down by the OFT.
Observer Comments
[sarcasm]Yet one more reason to be annoyed at the French.[/sarcasm] Why not sue Sony because you can't use Compact Flash cards in their cameras? Why not sue VHS vcr manufacturers because you can't play Beta in their machines?
I'm waiting to see if the Academe' Francais rules that le iPod is not a proper french word and must be banned from the language....
Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:03 am Subject: Doubt this will go anywhere
Virgin failed to prove Apple was being anticompetitive, and Apple is makes no secret of the compatability of iTMS downloads and the iPod. This case is dead in the water.
It should be remembered by consumer groups (and Reality Check) that the iPod is fully compatable with MP3 download music services, of which I have named at least four repeatedly, and with standard consumer CDs that have been ripped into MP3 or unprotected AAC formats. These provide adequate diversity and freedom for customers, interested in purchasing music.
Although part of me wonders who is paying the court fees of this consumer group.
Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:23 am Subject: Makes you wonder...
How far this will fly, especially since all their other DRMed WMA stores work with Windows-only. I guess if the French consumer group is successful with this case, it could be a precursor for future cases against Napster, BuyMusic and even Microsoft and its MSN Music for being anti-competitive with their online music solutions for locking in customers to Windows.
I'm only half kidding.
QuoteFrench Government bans email
>From a correspondent in Paris
July 10, 2003
THE French government, in a bid to turn
back the tide of English words in the field
of technology, has banned its civil service
from using the term "email" instead of its
approved French equivalent, the culture
minister announced.
All government ministries, websites,
publications and documents must now
use "courriel" - a shortening of "courrier
electronique" (literally: electronic mail) -
when they are referring to the messages
sent via the internet, the ministry said
in a statement.
The move, made law by its publication
in the official government gazette on June
20, will put the French administration
out of step with the majority of the French
public, who still prefer to use "email" to
communicate between computer accounts.
Agence France-Presse
But on second thought, iPod is a proper name for a specific item, so its not something that can be changed. However, "mp3 player" is probably on the Academe's hit list.
Mon Feb 14, 2005 7:15 pm Subject: UFC-Que Choisir site Not in English - No Choice!!!!
QuoteGuest wrote:
On the surface, this sounds like a silly lawsuit. I agree. If it is clearly explained (However, is it in French or in English ? Is it well explained in French? Is it explained at all ?)
However, the invasion of English terms into the French language and the use of English terms by many (usually young) French people (to sound different, cool,...) makes French sound more and more like English. Anyone should be upset if one's language is losing its identity.
I think Americans and all speakers would be upset if their language was being destroyed by another. I wonder how they would feel ?
I also wonder how these same people would feel if mosques were to replace the neighborhood MacDonald's or churches ?
English (and particularly American-English) is a bastard mongrel of a language, the ultimate in linguistic Darwinism. Which makes it particularly hard to "destroy"...to paraphrase one of my favorite authors, "Engilsh is the result of Norman knights trying to make dates with Saxon barmaids...and is just as legitimate any other result of such intercourse."
OK, next batter!
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