Bjoern Erik Thon, the country’s Consumer Ombudsman had given Apple until November 3rd to comply with his country’s demand that Apple open up iTunes downloads to all players.
The deadline, which seems to have meant either getting rid of FairPlay DRM on the Norwegian iTunes Store or providing a justification for why the DRM is still there. The deadline came and went with FairPlay still in place.
While Apple has since changed its user conditions, and included detailed instructions on how to burn iTunes downloads to a CD and then convert them to DRM-free MP3s usable on any device, those moves weren’t seen as enough of a solution for Norway’s Consumer Ombudsman.
A clear timeline for the case hasn’t been provided just yet, but preparations would probably kick off in either December or January, to be followed by a trial in the spring or early summer of 2009.
Tags: itunes