October 7th, 2008
Antitrust suit against Apple, AT&T moves forward
A federal judge has ruled that an antitrust suit against Apple and A&T over exclusivity deals for the iPhone may move forward, Ars Technica reports.
Apple and AT&T signed a five-year exclusive deal but only told consumers they would have to sign up for a two-year contract. That’s the main beef in the complaint. The judge said:
Plaintiffs allege… that unknown to consumers, the companies had agreed to technologically restrict voice and data service in the aftermarket for continued voice and data services, i.e., after the initial two-year service period expired. The question before the Court is whether if these allegations are true, the Complaint states a claim for a violation of the federal antitrust laws and other consumer protection laws. The Court finds that it does.
The order also reveals some inside dope on the companies’ agreement, including:
- Apple agreed to SIM-lock iPhones to AT&T
- take action to prevent unlocking
- refuse to give customers unlock codes to use the phones with other SIMs
- not make a CDMA version of the iPhone that could work on Sprint’s or Verizon’s networks.
