Back in March, a U.S. Magistrate ordered Steve Jobs to undergo limited questioning in relation to an antitrust lawsuit pressed against Apple by RealNetworks, who were shut out of iTunes when they figured out a way to wrap songs purchased via their Harmony software in a simulacrum of FairPlay DRM convincing enough to be played on 2004’s iPods.
Apparently, that limited questioning happened a few days ago between RealNetworks’ lawyer and the Apple CEO, who is currently on medical sick leave. Personally, I imagine that it consisted mostly of monosyllabic grunts intermixed with a series of contemptuous stares withering plucked from the physiogonomic vocabulary of some dandy Star Prince crash-landed upon Planet Feculon and forced to cavort with its natives. Either way, the transcript will doubtless be juicy.
We may never get to read it though. Apple has just asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit. Just when it was getting good!
Claiming that Apple’s iTunes software works only with iPod’s to assure a quality experience for the customer, Apple attorney Robert Mittelstaedt told U.S. District Judge James Ware: “Apple’s view is that iPods work better when consumers use the iTunes jukebox rather than third party software that can cause corruption or other problems.”
Well, I’m not so sure about that, Robert. iTunes has been known to corrupt its share of iPods too. Either way, we’re not really sure how RealNetworks gets off trying to force its own DRM scheme onto users’ iPods by hacking a competitor’s DRM, then claiming that DRM is anticompetitive, but whatever.
