Apple Sued for Stopping Open Source iTunes Discussion

[Cody Overcash]

Back in November we reported about Apple shutting down discussion on how to reverse engineer iTunes to make syncing of iPhones and iPods work with applications other than iTunes along with unsupported operating systems like Linux. Back then we thought the whole thing was a bit ridiculous. IF you want to sync on Linux or without iTunes you should be able to right?

At the time Apple claimed that the discussions were in violation of the DMCA Act because this reverse engineering could possibly lead to copyright violations.

Some months later the folks behind the site that Apple insisted discussions be removed from, Bluwiki.com, have filed a lawsuit against Apple in order to establish their right to restore the previously removed discussions. They claim that reverse-engineering to create a new product is perfectly acceptable under the DMCA Act and that the discussions were only about reverse engineering iTunes in order to use Apple devices with other software and iTunes on linux which in no way violate any of the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions or Apple's copyrights.

[via macworld]

[cpjr]

Thats actually kinda funny.

[lom51]

Apple will never learn

[nimavafi]

Good. About time Apple is checked for perspective. First the patent, now this. I'm glad to see the little guy step up to defend themselves...even though their efforts might be futile against Apple's legal team(s).

[GregTheWang]

Take them down Bluwiki

[lillewis51]

i think apple might lose one

[MrNoSox]

I don't know how long some of you have been using Apple products, but as a LONG time Apple user I can say that I am very disappointed in how Apple has been representing themselves the past couple years. Other than iPhone, I'm going to have to think hard about buying Apple hardware in the future. I'm running a pretty darn sweet Hackintosh right now and I think I'll be content to build future ones.

[robbpell]

i think apple might lose one

you mean another one lol
[ame=http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=97621]OPTi wins $19 million from Apple in patent lawsuit - AppleInsider[/ame]

[Jomann]

Knock em down a few pegs, apple is cool and all, they make good products and they have seen lots of growth, but like all company's that get big, they're head gets to big and think they can control the world. I hope these guys win, if not apple should create a Linux specific version to work correctly.

[JStraitiff]

meh, nothing new that apple is trying to keep everything closed. look back a few years at some of the bull **** they were involved with

id love to see syncing on linux

[Iman07]

apple is just a big bully with a lot of big lawyers. ive been an advocate of apple for some time now, but this is starting to get ridiculous. i wanna see them go down for a change. maybe that will teach them to stop suing people.

[blazingangel1986]

here we go again i hope they win

[WalkingBird]

How can you punish for something they MIGHT do??? now that is illegal...

[dale1v]

apple is just a big bully with a lot of big lawyers. ive been an advocate of apple for some time now, but this is starting to get ridiculous. i wanna see them go down for a change. maybe that will teach them to stop suing people.

They have lost $19 million against OPTi already.

[gotjpeg]

I hope this opens doors to an open source itunes for linux. This is really the only thing that is holding me back from being exclusive to just linux and not have to switch back and forth from linux to windows.

[mgebara]

This is just strategy for Apple. Pound the little guys with legal action so others are scared to defy Apple. Otherwise once the floodgates are open Apple will lose all control.

Not to say Apple needs to be in total control. But I can see how they'd rather draw the line on their terms.

[sziklassy]

The real question is (since I don't feel like researching right now), is it perfectly legal to reverse engineer software in this way? I mean really the intent isn't so much to make a new product than to change the way the product works, right?

[tattoojack]

love my iphone and my macbook pro,
but i friggin HATE apple

[CaptainChaos]

Is there something wrong with keeping quality control under control? I mean look at microsoft....with so many third party applications around it is no wonder a lot of people's windows boxes fail. Consistently. Should Apple release a Linux iTunes? Absolutely. People need to stop ragging on Apple about wanting to control their products. It works.

[mgebara]

Is there something wrong with keeping quality control under control? I mean look at microsoft....with so many third party applications around it is no wonder a lot of people's windows boxes fail. Consistently. Should Apple release a Linux iTunes? Absolutely. People need to stop ragging on Apple about wanting to control their products. It works.

At the moment I guess the linux population is too small for Apple to really care about. Why should Apple care to support linux? IMHO linux is a really great OS. What better way for Apple to prevent OSX users from switching over to linux, or to encourage linux users to switch over to OSX.