Apple on Tuesday prevailed in a nearly decade-long antitrust case accusing the company of choking off competition with its iPod music players.
The jury’s unanimous decision is a loss for the 8 million consumers who filed the class action suit seeking up to $1 billion over allegations that Apple’s software updates prevented their iPods from playing songs that were not purchased on iTunes. Critics claimed that allowed the tech giant used the tactic to force out competition and increase the price of its iPods.
{mosads}After only a few hours of deliberation on Tuesday, the eight-member jury disagreed, ruling that the updates were legitimate attempts to improve Apple’s services and not to block out competition.
In a statement, Apple cheered the decision.
“We created iPod and iTunes to give our customers the world’s best way to listen to music,” the company said. “Every time we’ve updated those products — and every Apple product over the years — we’ve done it to make the user experience even better.”
Patrick Coughlin, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told The Wall Street Journal that his side plans to appeal the decision.