New and Noteworthy: iPod antitrust suit pushes forward; AT&T warns Apple of potential patent infringement

iPod antitrust suit pushes forward PC Pro reports that a US court has given the go-ahead for Apple to be sued over allegations that the iPod-iTunes axis breaches federal antitrust laws. "Tying two products together is (potentially) illegal under the 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act and is described as 'the practice of making the sale of one good (the tying good) to the de facto or de jure customer conditional on the purchase of a second distinctive good (the tied good)'." More.

AT&T warns Apple of potential patent infringement AT&T possesses several patents related to video compression, which the company says are an essential component of the MPEG-4 video technology. PC Magazine reports "In a bid to drive its global licensing program, AT&T has targeted Apple Computer, Inc., CyberLink Corp., DivX, Inc., InterVideo, Inc., and Sonic Solutions as unlicensed companies whose products and software utilize the MPEG-4 technology. AT&T has also contacted national retailers that distribute products from the companies listed above, to let them know that they may be held liable for infringement." More.

Previously on MacFixIt

• Power adapter issues (#3): Reason why the extension cord works when the two-prong adapter does not
• Large hard drives not recognizing full capacity in some enclosures (#2)
• iMac Core Duo (#6): Video distortion: "Tearing" and other anomalies; Keyboard volume/eject keys fail; more
• Intel-based Macs: Problems with printers (#4)
• iPhoto 6.0 (#5): Lost calendar; Print quality complaints
• iMovie 6.0 (#6): More on problems monitoring sound through FireWire on Intel-based Macs
• iTunes 6.0.2 (#8): More on slow access to the iTunes Music store
• Intel-based Macs: Rosetta compatibility index
• Intel-based Macs: Two builds of Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel shipping

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