Bruce Willis Considering Lawsuit Against Apple Over iTunes Store Music Transferability [Updated]

[MacRumors]

Several reports over the weekend, including from The Sun and the Daily Mail, are claiming that actor Bruce Willis is considering taking legal action against Apple to address the issue of transferability of iTunes Store music purchases. According to the reports, Willis wants his daughters to be able to inherit his iTunes music upon his death, but Apple's terms prohibit any transfer of ownership.

The Hollywood action hero is said to be considering legal action against technology giant Apple over his desire to leave his digital music collection to his daughters.

If he succeeds, he could benefit not just himself and his family but the millions who have purchased songs from Apple's iTunes Store.

Willis has discovered that, like anyone who has bought music online, he does not actually own the tracks but is instead 'borrowing' them under a licence.

As an alternative to legal action against Apple, Willis is also said to be considering setting up a family trust to own his iTunes music.

Curiously, we can find no restrictions on transferability of iTunes Store music content in the lengthy terms and conditions. While Apple is clear that apps sold through both the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store are distributed under a nontransferable license, the current version of the document makes no reference to any such licensing and transferability restrictions for other types of content such as music.

Apple shifted its entire music store to iTunes Plus content in early 2009, removing copying and device limitations from tracks sold through the marketplace. Many users undoubtedly still own restricted non-Plus tracks, but in most cases those can be upgraded to their corresponding Plus versions at relatively low cost.

Ultimately, ownership and copyright on music sold through the iTunes Store are held by record labels who may attempt to dictate transferability, but Apple's own terms do not appear to address such issues on a blanket basis in their current state.

Update: According to a tweet from Willis' wife, the story is untrue.

(Photo by Gage Skidmore)

Article Link: Bruce Willis Considering Lawsuit Against Apple Over iTunes Store Music Transferability [Updated]

 

[freedevil]

Yippe Ka Ye Macrumors!

 

[iSengKin]

Apple, forget all this nonsense and give us that beautiful iPhone 5 announcement!

 

[charleswhalley]

Bruce Willis Considering Lawsuit Against Apple Over iTunes Store Music Transferabilit

Did he not read the T&C's - shame on him.

LOL

 

[derangedcow]

Coming this Christmas to a theater near you

 

[Bezetos]

DRM-free music is the way to go.

 

[dra]

WTF serious how about just leave yea kid some money to buy the songs or just ya iTunes password. or even better give her the song and leave her $29 to get iTunes match.

 

[TheRainKing]

Right... Because his daughters couldn't possibly afford to just buy the songs themselves.

 

[celo48]

I think he is DAMN right! If you can leave your CDs, DVDs, Blu-Rays, books to your family when you die, you should be able to leave digital contents too!

 

[Robjw]

The man is a tool

 

[840quadra]

If it is against the rules within the terms of service when he purchased these items, does Bruce really have a case?

Curious to hear what the end result and or response will be from Apple.

 

[3282868]

Yippe Ka Ye Macrumors!

D@mn, you beat me to it! lol

On point, I was never a big fan of Willis, however if this rings true I'll be giving him a lot of cred.

This isn't about "money" but principle. People used to own physical media, vinyls/8 tracks/tapes/CD's, and we could use that media as we pleased. Why has this changed for digital media? Yes, pirating is more widespread, however people used to make mixed tapes, copies, etc. of their music before the digital advent. There should be no reason your PURCHASED media cannot be given away, especially as, well, you're dead.*

- You can get "iTunes Match" for a year and have your library upgraded to DRM free tracks with higher bit-rates (should they need it)

- Isn't most of Apple's music DRM free now?

- Requiem - DRM removal app

- Years back Jobs suggested a method in removing DRM from iTunes tracks (he hated DRM but the RIAA wouldn't make the deal w/o protection):
Use a CD+RW and produce a script to burn your library, then rip it off the CD into iTunes. DRM gone. I did this years ago and it worked flawlessly.

The dude's going to bat for us, using his money to defend the "little guys". You think he cares? He can buy his music 1,000x and still be loaded. Good for him, and thank you!

EDIT: I just got read by someone stating I "missed the point". To re-emphasize, I agree with Willis' decision and believe that if you own the media, may it be physical or digital, you should be able to do with it as you please (of course, profiting off it is another matter). My examples were simply suggestions OT for those wanting to legally remove DRM (aside from Requiem of course)

 

[ValSalva]

Apple doesn't care what happens to one's individual music collection. They just want to sell everyone more hardware.

He should sue the record companies who dictate these kinds of greedy terms to Apple.

 

[bennydesign]

is this common practice nowadays? "sue first (or threaten to sue) then read the fine print." In case of his death he could give them his mac. But if you give somebody your record collection when you die, they own the records (physical media), not the music itself. Confusing modern world.

 

[G4DP]

DRM-free music is the way to go.

The music is DRM free. Has been for a long time now. DRM has nothing to do with it either.

The point is about the fact that if a parent dies, then legally they cannot pass any of the purchased material on as it is only 'rented'.

It is a beautiful stitch up concocted by the labels and Apple.

The only way to solve it would be to burn everything to DVD and then re-install on to iTunes. Although in recent versions, Apple have removed the ability to do this straight through iTunes. YOu would have to do it manually through Disk Utility.

 

[flappah]

Woweeee! And Apple remember, this was the guy who singlehandedly stopped "an asteroid the size of Texas" so having to deal with a multi-billion dollar company is .. peanuts!

 

[benpatient]

He should sue the record companies who dictate these kinds of greedy terms to Apple.

LOL. I don't think you appreciate just how demanding Apple is when dealing with record labels. They have MUCH more leverage than any of the content providers, and not only do they know it, they make sure the labels know it at every opportunity.

 

[IzzyJG99]

Bruno's not happy.

 

[WaltCD]

Ridiculous

Apple really needs to make this go away. I'm not sure why Willis is making a big deal about this. How many songs can he possibly have? With all the money he makes just buy the songs again for his daughters.

Myself, I have about 11,000 songs in iTunes. It's not the largest collection around, by any means, but it's more than any of my friends. I'm not rich, and to be sure, probably less than 100, maybe 150, have been bought through iTunes.

Number one, Bruce can just give the User ID and Password to his daughters and they can use the library forever. No problem. Isn't that what one of the most amazing things Apple has done in the last couple of years: Use your iTunes/App Store Apple ID to buy songs, books, and apps for your whole family to share/use, and then each person has their own iCloud account to be used for more personal things such as e-mail, contacts, and game/app settings.

Finally, let's say that he has 50,000 songs he's purchased. Apple should just give his daughters the songs and make this go away. It's cheaper than a lawsuit and Bruce Willis is big enough star that this would be too much bad publicity.


Walt D in LV

 

[applefanDrew]

The music is DRM free. Has been for a long time now. DRM has nothing to do with it either.

The point is about the fact that if a parent dies, then legally they cannot pass any of the purchased material on as it is only 'rented'.

It is a beautiful stitch up concocted by the labels and Apple.

The only way to solve it would be to burn everything to DVD and then re-install on to iTunes. Although in recent versions, Apple have removed the ability to do this straight through iTunes. YOu would have to do it manually through Disk Utility.

Or give his girls his apple Id and password. Once they take over the account, they can change the email and password.

 

[lifeinhd]

I thought this was relevant

 

[Bezetos]

The music is DRM free. Has been for a long time now. DRM has nothing to do with it either.

The point is about the fact that if a parent dies, then legally they cannot pass any of the purchased material on as it is only 'rented'.

I thought that only iTunes Plus offers DRM-free music?

 

[organerito]

I really want to become an Apple fundamentalist. Please let me know how to.
Should I start hating Bruce Willis now?

 

[stukick]

Is this story for real? April 1st already huh...

 

[mrzeigler]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only dork who has worried about this.

What makes my situation even more ludicrous is the fact that I don't have kids. Still, that doesn't stop me from thinking about stuff like this.