iPod Antitrust Lawsuit Sees Amateur Ice Dancer Join as Plaintiff

Steve jobs ipod

The iPod antitrust lawsuit is on track again, as an amateur ice dancer showed up and saved the class-action lawsuit against Apple, reports the Wall Street Journal. Although the iPod maker’s practice affected as many as 8 million customers, the two plaintiffs who started the case were disqualified earlier this week, jeopardizing the whole case.

But that isn’t going to happen. Barbara Bennett, a 65-year-old amateur ice dancer appeared yesterday in front of the US District Court in Oakland, California to be questioned by the judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers and attorneys for both the prosecution and defence.

Apparently she used iPods while learning to skate backwards. The most important question though was the time of her iPod purchase, as the lawsuit depends on whether or not she qualified to represent the case.

Her answer was that she bought an iPod Nano in late 2006, which indeed qualifies her as a class member. After questioning Bennett, the judge said to the attorneys: “We’re on the right track”.

Apple is facing accusations that it locked iPod users into the iTunes ecosystem between 2005 and May 2009. The company says it used DRM software because it was forced to do so though the contracts it had signed with music labels.

Image credit: PA Images Paul Sakuma/AP

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