Apple Wins Lawsuit Alleging The Company Deleted Songs From Rival Companies On Users’ iPods

A jury recently ruled in Apple’s favor in a class action antitrust lawsuit claiming that the company intentionally deleted data from customers’ devices without informing them.

The lawsuit specifically alleged that, between 2006 and 2009, Apple deleted any songs not bought on iTunes from the users’ iPods without permission. According to Pitchfork, the plaintiffs were seeking $350 million in damages because they had to pay more for Apple services when they could no longer successfully use rival music services.

The lawsuit began a decade ago, but only went to trial in a federal court on Monday, December 15.

It came to light that two of the plaintiffs in the case had not purchased iPods during the time period stated in the suit, and a new plaintiff was named only hours before the jury got the suit on Monday. She was not able to testify in the case.

Apple’s lawyers used the argument that the plaintiffs could not find anyone who was harmed by the iPod policy, and the jury ended up ruling in their favor. The jury also concluded that Apple’s software updates were beneficial, not designed to block songs from competitors. A lawyer for the plaintiffs stated that they are planning to appeal the decision.