Apple had been facing a possible billion dollar penalty due to an long-in-the-works antitrust case, which finally went to trial this month. Luckily for the company, it has now won the case and is off the hook.
As Reuters reports, the verdict was declared today (December 16) in U.S. federal court in Oakland, CA. Apple had been accused of erasing songs from users' iPods if they weren't purchased from the iTunes store, leading to accusations that the company was securing a monopoly and unfairly driving up prices.
The tech giant responded that the measures were for security reasons, and that it neglected to offer a full explanation for erasing music because it didn't want to confuse users. Apple further said that it was not required to make products that were compatible for competitors.
The suit was worth $350 million, and antitrust laws could have boosted up that number to as much as a billion. The jury, however, sided with Apple's version of events and found that the iTunes updates in question were indeed a product improvement.
Following the verdict, Apple's lawyer did not speak with the press and referred questions to the company, which has not yet commented on the verdict as of press time.
Some Apple execs took the stand during the trial, and a taped 2011 deposition from late CEO Steve Jobs was used as evidence. The case hadn't been going well for the accusers; during the trial, it turned out that one of the plaintiffs didn't actually own an iPod purchased during the period addressed in the suit.
As Reuters reports, the verdict was declared today (December 16) in U.S. federal court in Oakland, CA. Apple had been accused of erasing songs from users' iPods if they weren't purchased from the iTunes store, leading to accusations that the company was securing a monopoly and unfairly driving up prices.
The tech giant responded that the measures were for security reasons, and that it neglected to offer a full explanation for erasing music because it didn't want to confuse users. Apple further said that it was not required to make products that were compatible for competitors.
The suit was worth $350 million, and antitrust laws could have boosted up that number to as much as a billion. The jury, however, sided with Apple's version of events and found that the iTunes updates in question were indeed a product improvement.
Following the verdict, Apple's lawyer did not speak with the press and referred questions to the company, which has not yet commented on the verdict as of press time.
Some Apple execs took the stand during the trial, and a taped 2011 deposition from late CEO Steve Jobs was used as evidence. The case hadn't been going well for the accusers; during the trial, it turned out that one of the plaintiffs didn't actually own an iPod purchased during the period addressed in the suit.
