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Apple done goofed.
MOVIE tough-guy Bruce Willis is squaring up to tech giants Apple for the right to leave his huge iTunes collection to daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah after he dies.
But many of us don’t realise we are just borrowing the music, books and films we download, unless the small print states otherwise.
Here expert LAURENCE KAYE salutes Die Hard star Bruce’s stand and says digital consumer rights need clarifying.
Bruce fights Apple ... story breaks in The Sun
BRUCE WILLIS is standing up and saying to Apple that they need to sort out their small print.
This could help both the customer and companies like Apple or Amazon.
When you click to add a song or e-book to your online shopping cart, the language these companies use can make you think you own your purchases like a physical CD or a book.
The average consumer reading Apple’s long terms and conditions won’t necessarily understand that “purchasing a licence” for a song is not the same as owning it for ever.
You are effectively renting the song for your personal use only and the terms don’t spell out what happens to the licence for your music, games and videos after you die. This is what Bruce is trying to get to the bottom of.
Your licence agreement may not explicitly say: “Oh, by the way, you don’t own these songs.”
Your music may be licensed only to you and, if that’s the case, you can’t transfer to a friend or relative the right to listen to it. You are free to give away your iPod, Kindle or MP3 player but it might be illegal for another person to use the content.
I believe there needs to be absolute clarity in the terms and conditions so people know what they are paying for.
Bruce Willis has two options.
One is paying his lawyer to find a way to get around Apple’s terms and conditions. By signing his music over to a trustee, he may or may not be able, when he dies, to pass on his personal right to his collection to his children.
Or he could use consumer laws or other rules on free movement of goods to argue that Apple’s terms and conditions are unfair. His actions may also mean industry regulators will start to question whether terms and conditions are clear enough. But to me, this is a problem Apple, Amazon and their content providers will want to solve.
The starting point has to be that the consumer needs to understand what they are paying for.
After all, when you rent a car, you know you haven’t bought it.
If, in the case of digital content, it’s a “download to own” purchase, consumers will treat the music like their physical possessions. That way, when making a will, they know what they can do. What Apple will be worried about would be a loophole meaning one person could buy something and pass it on to everyone else. But I’d be surprised if a father left his daughter an iPod and Apple took her to court for listening to the tracks.
For them, it’s about finding a balance between ensuring musicians and actors get paid for their work and being clear to customers in the small print.
Technology moves fast and it can take time to work out answers to problems like these.
MOVIE tough-guy Bruce Willis is squaring up to tech giants Apple for the right to leave his huge iTunes collection to daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah after he dies.
But many of us don’t realise we are just borrowing the music, books and films we download, unless the small print states otherwise.
Here expert LAURENCE KAYE salutes Die Hard star Bruce’s stand and says digital consumer rights need clarifying.
Bruce fights Apple ... story breaks in The Sun
BRUCE WILLIS is standing up and saying to Apple that they need to sort out their small print.
This could help both the customer and companies like Apple or Amazon.
When you click to add a song or e-book to your online shopping cart, the language these companies use can make you think you own your purchases like a physical CD or a book.
The average consumer reading Apple’s long terms and conditions won’t necessarily understand that “purchasing a licence” for a song is not the same as owning it for ever.
You are effectively renting the song for your personal use only and the terms don’t spell out what happens to the licence for your music, games and videos after you die. This is what Bruce is trying to get to the bottom of.
Your licence agreement may not explicitly say: “Oh, by the way, you don’t own these songs.”
Your music may be licensed only to you and, if that’s the case, you can’t transfer to a friend or relative the right to listen to it. You are free to give away your iPod, Kindle or MP3 player but it might be illegal for another person to use the content.
I believe there needs to be absolute clarity in the terms and conditions so people know what they are paying for.
Bruce Willis has two options.
One is paying his lawyer to find a way to get around Apple’s terms and conditions. By signing his music over to a trustee, he may or may not be able, when he dies, to pass on his personal right to his collection to his children.
Or he could use consumer laws or other rules on free movement of goods to argue that Apple’s terms and conditions are unfair. His actions may also mean industry regulators will start to question whether terms and conditions are clear enough. But to me, this is a problem Apple, Amazon and their content providers will want to solve.
The starting point has to be that the consumer needs to understand what they are paying for.
After all, when you rent a car, you know you haven’t bought it.
If, in the case of digital content, it’s a “download to own” purchase, consumers will treat the music like their physical possessions. That way, when making a will, they know what they can do. What Apple will be worried about would be a loophole meaning one person could buy something and pass it on to everyone else. But I’d be surprised if a father left his daughter an iPod and Apple took her to court for listening to the tracks.
For them, it’s about finding a balance between ensuring musicians and actors get paid for their work and being clear to customers in the small print.
Technology moves fast and it can take time to work out answers to problems like these.
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