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Apple faces EU antitrust probe into iTunes
World Business News |
2007/04/03 08:36
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| The European Commission is investigating Apple's iTunes to determine if sales restrictions based on the buyer's country of residence violate EU antitrust laws, according to a commission statement confirming the probe Tuesday. Music buyers in Europe are currently only able to download songs or albums from the iTunes store in their own country, which the commission says restricts buyers in terms of what music is available and the cost of each purchase. Depending on where in Europe the buyer lives, music prices can vary by as much as $0.24 for a single song. A spokesman for Apple said Monday that the company would like to make the costs and availability to Europeans uniform across the 27-nation EU, but music labels and publishers have limited Apple's rights in Europe. Apple could face significant fines if found in violation of EU antitrust laws. The company has two months to respond to a letter from the European Commission containing questions about its iTunes sales practice in Europe. Last year, France passed legislation allowing French regulators to force Apple to make its iPod player compatible with songs downloaded from other Internet music stores, and downloads from its iTunes service compatible with other players. Similar legislation has been proposed in Britain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Poland. |
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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