iTunes Customer Files Suit Against Apple

A pple found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit Wednesday filed by annoyed iTunes customer Thomas Slattery, who alleges Apple broke antitrust laws by only allowing songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store to work with Appleis iPod.

"Apple has unlawfully bundled, tied, and/or leveraged its monopoly in the market for the sale of legal online digital music recordings to thwart competition in the separate market for portable hard drive digital music players, and vice-versa," the suit charges, as reported by Reuters. "Apple has turned an open and interactive standard into an artifice that prevents consumers from using the portable hard drive digital music player of their choice, even where players exist that would otherwise be able to play these music files absent Appleis actions."

Slattery says that he was "forced" to buy an iPod in order to take the songs purchased at the iTunes Music Store with him on the road.

Experts believe Slattery has only a slim chance of winning. A spokesman for Apple declined to comment on the suit.