iTunes has become an important marketplace for many artists and musicians, but it’s not all peace and love between Apple, music labels, and artists.
Case in point, popular rapper Eminem. The singer’s been up in arms about allegedly unapproved iTunes song sales/downloads since 2005, and his publishing company Eight Mile Style filed a multimillion dollar copyright infringement lawsuit against Apple.
Four years later there’s yet to be a resolution to the complicated legal matter. Should the parties fail to meet a Wednesday night deadline (tonight), the case will go to trial in a federal court in Michigan on Thursday.
The contentious copyright battle revolves around 93 Eminem tracks which were made available for sale in iTunes. Some of the allegedly unauthorized tracks are still currently for sale.
According to the Guardian:
“His publishing company, Eight Mile Style, filed a lawsuit in 2005 alleging that Apple and record company Aftermath had infringed its copyright by agreeing a deal to sell the music online.”
“Eight Mile – along with co-plaintiff Martin Affiliated – alleges that Aftermath only had the rights to negotiate CD sales, not online distribution.”
The end result could spell embarrassment for Apple if it comes to light that their deal with Aftermath Records didn’t include digital downloads, though we’ll see if the two parties can reach a last-minute agreement and avoid a trial. We’ll update this post when we know more.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto (
), zentilia.
Sifting through the pile of rumors concerning Apple’s next move when it comes to its iMac lineup, one can only be certain that nothing is certain. But, although it’s all totally unofficial, most of the blogs devoted to Apple report the same thing: new iMacs are going to be cheaper, and they’ll feature a thinner industrial design.
