James Delahunty
8 Oct 2007 18:53
Apple Inc. has once again become the target of a lawsuit over its iPhone. Specifically, the company is being sued for the exclusive tie between the iPhone and AT&T, and how Apple has chosen to enforce that lock. The iPhone v1.1.1 update literally disabled (iBricked) hacked or unlocked iPhone models, sparking outcry and bringing up the question of unlocking and the DMCA.
Timothy P. Smith and the legal team of M. Van Smith and Damian R. Fernandez filed for a class action lawsuit against Apple over the issues. The suit alleges that Apple violated antitrust laws by tying the iPhone to the AT&T provider network in the U.S., and disabling the unlocked phones of users who installed the update.
Smith's complaint acknowledges that Apple warned that the iPhone update could result in unlocked iPhones becoming "permanently inoperable," but it alleges that the company acted "in defiance and without sufficient consideration of consumers' rights" because the company "took no steps to issue an update with unlocked firmware or otherwise issue its update to prevent damage to unlocked iPhones."
Unlocking is considered a protected practice under exemptions made for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), protecting users from civil or criminal penalties from unlocking, but it does not provide protection against a company fighting against the unlocking in the way that Apple has done.
Source:
Yahoo (NewsFactor)