July 23rd, 2009
Apple withdraws legal threats against Bluwiki
OdioWorks LLC runs a free and open wiki service called BluWiki which has drawn threats from Apple’s legal department for hosting a wiki for iTunesDB.
Apple’s issue is that iTunesDB is an attempt to learn about iTunes’ database file system and create third-party software that can replicate the sync functionality of iTunes for iPhones and iPods without forcing users to run Apple’s own media software.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) maintains that Bluwiki, is just like as Wikipedia and “is open to the public for collaborative authoring and editing on any topic. The site is entirely noncommercial, operated by OdioWorks as a public service.”
According to AppleInsider:
Starting in Nov. 2008, Apple, through a series of lawsuits, claimed the very existence of iTunesDB violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)’s rules on circumventing copyright locks and successfully frightened OdioWorks into taking down the wiki entries.
In April 2009 the EFF sued Apple on behalf of OdioWorks asking a court to reject Apple’s claims and allow Bluwiki to restore the pages in question. Yesterday free speech was vindicated when EFF announced that Apple sent a letter withdrawing its cease-and-desist demands and stating that “Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the iTunesDB Pages.”
As a result, EFF has moved to dismiss its complaint against Apple.
This is a major win for free speech and the First Amendment.
Jason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.
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