Norway

Campaign: iTunes campaign

Organiser: Consumer Council of Norway and The Consumer Ombudsman

In January 2006, the Consumer Council filed a complaint to the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman regarding unfair commercial practices carried out by online traders in general and iTunes in particular. The main problems cited were the use of unfair contract terms and the lack of interoperability between digital players and digital content due to the use of technical protection measures (DRM: Digital Rights Management) In parallel with this official complaint, the Consumer Council ran a successful campaign highlighting the identified problems. This campaign received worldwide media coverage and obtained the support of the German, French and Finnish consumer organisations, which also began campaigns on this issue. Meanwhile, Norway's Consumer Ombudsman continued legal discussions with iTunes throughout 2006 and 2007. As a result of the campaign, iTunes amended their contract terms and the four largest record companies decided to sell digital music without DRM, thus enabling the iTunes Music Store to do the same for a significant proportion of their sales. The campaign raised awareness among industry, consumers, media and authorities with regard to consumer rights in digital shopping.

Campaign factsheet
Campaign factsheet
Campaign poster

Website: iTunes’ questionable terms and conditions
Website: The Consumer Council of Norway is on track to win case against iTunes
Website: iTunes violates Norwegian law
Website: Consumer orga­ni­sations meet music industry
Website: Interesting signals from Apple regarding iTunes
Campaign background

• European Consumer Campaign of the Year
• European Consumer Day activities
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