iPhone Antitrust and Computer Fraud Claims Upheld

LawWatcher writes "On October 1, 2008, a federal judge in California upheld a class action claiming that Apple and AT&T Mobility's five-year exclusive voice and data service provider agreement for the iPhone violates the anti-monopoly provisions of the antitrust laws. The court also ruled that Apple may have violated federal and California criminal computer fraud and abuse statutes by releasing version 1.1.1 of its iPhone operating software when Apple knew that doing so would damage or destroy some iPhones that had been 'unlocked' to enable use of a carrier other than AT&T."

Comments

Re:No one deserves this more than Apple

[Kagura]

That's a very interesting response. Thanks for the insight.

Re:Magnuson Moss Warranty Act of 1975

[Kagura]

This was extremely helpful and was exactly the sort of response I was looking for. Thanks!

Re:Magnuson Moss Warranty Act of 1975

[dragon8x4x]

That was a great summary and explanation. Thank you

Re:It may be ilegal in many places ...

[shmlco]

"Forcing people to buy one product in order to be able to buy another is a classroom example of an anticompetitive practice..."

Right. Good thing that there's a dozen or so other major cell phone manufacturers, and three other major service providers.

Apple is offering a phone that runs on AT&T's network. That's the product. No one is being forced to buy it, anymore than anyone is forced to buy an Instinct from Sprint.