A is for Antitrust

Timothy Smith, a Califronia resident, is filing a class-action suit against Apple for violating the state's antitrust law by not allowing users to freely use the iPhone on any network. Citing violations of the Cartwright Act, the suit seeks to have an injunction issued against Apple which prevents it from selling the iPhone with software that prohibits it from being used with other networks. They are also saying that unlocking units is completely legal based on the traditional copyright law and the more recent Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If found to be substantial, this has the makings of a landmark case as big as the one filed against Microsoft which the Redmond-based company eventually lost. Incidentally, the iPhone release in France is encountering some delays due to conflicts with local laws prohibiting mobile phones from being network-locked as well. Unfortunately, our brilliant lawmakers have never thought of drafting a similar law in our country. So for us less-privileged individuals, we’ll have to be content with telcos still selling network-locked units and seek less legal means of unlocking them. Tough luck!