The Small Print Project                                       

The license below applies to the iTunes 7.0 release in September 2006. But with iTunes, the real issue may not lie with the EULA as much as with DRM and the suspiciously high number of fixes and “upgrades.” (iTunes 1.0 = 2001. iTunes 7.0 - 2006). I’ll try and spark that discussion in the next post.

Bigtime thanks to Jesse for taking the time to breakdown the scrapple from the Apple.

Jesse’s interpretations/comments are in italics.

And now, to the license: “APPLE COMPUTER, INC. / SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR iTUNES” revision: “EA0367 / Rev 9/7/06″

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THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND/OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY, OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OF ACCURACY, OF QUIET ENJOYMENT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS.
*** Quiet enjoyment? Is that a typical tort (thing you can sue someone for)? Or has Apple been sued for not providing “quiet enjoyment” in the past? Might be
interesting to research.

In no event shall Apple’s total liability to you for all damages (other than as may be required by applicable law in cases involving personalinjury) exceed the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00).
*** Remember, this is for a computer that costs around $2,000.00 bucks, and an OS whose big upgrades are in around $100 bucks a pop. If it does something horrible, Apple will pay how much? Fifty bucks.

You may not use or otherwise export or reexport the Apple Software except as authorized by United States law and the laws of the jurisdiction in which the Apple Software was obtained.
*** Even if you bought the software outside the US, from someone who legally exported it from the US, you are still bound by US law. Isn’t this called imperialism, or is that too 20th-century?

You also agree that you will not use these products for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture or production of nuclear, missiles, or chemical or biological weapons.
*** You know, I don’t want to even think about how Apple’s lawyers imagine iTunes can be used to produce biological weapons, but I suppose they have to be careful…

The software from Gracenote (the “Gracenote CDDB Client”) enables this application to do online disc identification and obtain music-related information, including name, artist, track, and title information (”Gracenote Data”)
*** Watch the use of the term “Gracenote Data” very carefully below.
Remember, most of this “Data” is 1) Originally created by the artists themselves - i.e. track names, album names, band names, etc. 2) Was contributed to Gracenote’s database by ordinary users, under the mistaken impression that they were collaborating on something which would remain theirs, collectively, in perpetuity. from online servers (”Gracenote CDDB Servers”) and to perform other functions. You may use Gracenote Data only by means of the intended End User functions of this application software.
*** Hm - what non-”End User functions” is iTunes capable of?

You agree that you will use Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers for your own personal non-commercial use only. You agree not to assign, copy, transfer or transmit the Gracenote CDDB Client or any Gracenote Data to any third party.
*** Here’s that “Gracenote Data” again - remember - this is data *they did not create* - they are merely trying to claim control of that which was freely given to them with the expectation that they would maintain it as a collection.
YOU AGREE NOT TO USE OR EXPLOIT GRACENOTE DATA, THE GRACENOTE CDDB CLIENT, OR GRACENOTE CDDB SERVERS, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PERMITTED HEREIN.

You agree that your non-exclusive license to use the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers will terminate if you violate these restrictions. If your license terminates, you agree to cease any and all use of the Gracenote Data, the Gracenote CDDB Client, and Gracenote CDDB Servers.
*** “Gracenote Data” - i.e. track names; so, if you email someone the name of a CD you own, which you imported into iTunes, you are “transmit”ing that CD name, which Gracenote claims is their “Gracenote Data”, and so your license to use that “Gracenote Data” would “terminate”, meaning that you would have to remove all the album, artist and track names from all your CDs in iTunes. Does this seem fair to you? Did you think you were agreeing to this?

Use of the Kerbango Tuning Service to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your Web site for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales is expressly forbidden.
*** Er, I’m not entirely sure what this service *is* exactly, but how you use iTunes to “increase traffic to your Web site” I don’t know.
You may not take the results from a Kerbango search and reformat and display them,
*** Hm; so does this mean that it violates this license for you to see
two web pages in Kerbango, then go to them in tabs in Firefox? You are displaying both of the sites, and their format (in the Firefox tab bar) is different than in the Kerbango results; would this violate the license? Did you think you were agreeing to this?
or mirror the 3Com’s Kerbango home page or results pages on your Web
site, or send automated queries to Kerbango’s system without express
permission from 3Com.

Without limiting the foregoing, under no circumstances shall 3Com be held liable for any delay or failure in performance resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces, or causes beyond its reasonable control, including, without limitation, Internet failures, computer equipment failures, telecommunication equipment failures, other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor
or materials, fires, floods, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals, non-performance of third parties, or loss of or fluctuations in heat, light, or air conditioning.
*** I love the last item. 3Com is not liable for “fluctuations in air conditioning”. Good to know. And why this is in a license for Apple’s iTunes - who knows….

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Keep ‘em coming: asternbe[at]usc[dot]edu | fill-in-blank