European Commission takes another shot at Apple's iTunes

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 03 April 2007 14:35

Your IT - Home IT

Some days, you just can't take a trick. I don't usually feel sorry for people that get a corporate jet as part of their salary package, but I can empathise with Steve Jobs. Just as EMI and Apple introduce music without DRM to the iTunes Store, the European Commission finds something else to complain about.

The Commission (essentially the European public service) alleges that Apple and certain major record companies are in breech of EU rules covering restrictive trading practices because customers must use a credit card issued in the same country as the iTunes Store they are trying to use.

This is how Apple complies with the territorial rights involved in music publishing, but the Commission says that part of its agreement with the labels contravenes competition rules.

Apple and the record companies have two months to respond. Large fines can be applied to companies that infringe EU competition rules.

The iTunes Store presents different content and prices to customers in different European countries. In particular, the standard price for a track in the UK iTunes Store is £0.79 (€1.17), compared with €0.99 in Germany, France and other Euro-zone nations.