European consumer organisations join forces in legal dispute over iTunes Music Store
22.01.2007
"Interoperability is the key for the future of legal music downloads"
Consumer organisations from across Europe have agreed on joint positions in a legal battle with Apple to achieve consumer friendly conditions for iTunes users throughout Europe. "We will join forces to safeguard consumer interests when purchasing digital content online", the Consumer Ombudsmen in Finland and Norway, the French Consumer Organisation UFC Que Choisir and the Federation of German Consumer Organisations (vzbv) declared in a joint statement. The four organisations agreed on a list of demands which are included in letters which some of the organisations wrote to iTunes today.
The consumer organisations have previously initiated legal proceedings against iTunes in 2006. iTunes has been open for discussions but negotiated separately with the different national consumer organisations. The five organisations now speak with one voice and will work towards improved consumer rights and conditions for consumers throughout Europe.
iTunes had also been in favour of bundling negotiations. "The common approach we have agreed on today strengthens our negotiation power and will hopefully enable iTunes to achieve better agreements with the music labels" said Bjorn Erik Thon, Consumer Ombudsman in Norway. "Interoperability and more flexibility in using downloaded content is key for the further development of the legal music download market", said Patrick von Braunmühl, Deputy Director of the German Consumer Federation vzbv.
The list of key points referred to in the letters to iTunes includes better interoperability, more consumer-friendly terms and conditions as well as the issues of liability and applicable law.
Interoperability
"We believe consumers have a right to play material purchased online on a portable device of their own choice," the five organisations said. Contract clauses that make this impossible or too inconvenient are unfair and should be revoked, they declared. A positive answer to solve this question might be for instance renegotiating with record-companies so that the music can be sold without DRM, start licensing of their own DRM or the development of a common DRM for the industry as a whole. As of now, the organizations suggest that iTunes allow their consumers to make the songs playable on other devices through re-ripping burnt CDs containing songs downloaded from iTunes. "However, this will not serve as a long-term solution", the joint statement says. "We thus urge Apple to make substantial progress towards full interoperability until the end of September 2007."
Change of conditions
On the issue of legal terms and conditions, consumer organisations insist that iTunes revoke their clause according to which iTunes may unilaterally change their terms and conditions without seeking their customers´ consent.
Liability
The joint position also refers to potential damage claims linked to content sold by iTunes: "iTunes should change its clause limiting its liability to recover consumer damages if they are caused by content sold by iTunes."
Applicable Law
The four organisations also criticise contract clauses on the law applicable in case of legal disputes: "Consumers entering into a contract with iTunes should be able to rely on the consumer protection rules according to the law of the country in which they live."
The proposed solution aims to safeguard the long-term interest of consumers, to take into consideration the ongoing technical developments in this area, and to give iTunes some time to adjust and implement necessary changes. "It is also a signal to other companies that interoperability is an important issue for consumers, and that this is something they must take into consideration when determining their strategies."
