So about a month ago, Apple gave up the ghost, and left its iTunes DRM in the dustbin of early 21st century history.
This makes Norway’s anti-DRM complaint against Apple essentially moot at this point—indeed, Norway announced Wednesday that it had dropped its legal complaints against Apple.
Since 2006, this Nordic powerhouse had been throwing down the legal hammer against Apple. It even brought in Consumer Ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon. Oh yes, that Bjørn Erik Thon.
And you know when Bjørn gets involved, things get negotiate-y. As the Norwegian paper Aftenposten reported at the time: “Thon told TV 2 that his phone has already begun to ring regularly with long-distance calls from Apple’s ‘well-paid lawyers.’”
Thon and Cupertino battled it out from across the globe for the next two years. Things got so heated at one point that Thon laid the smack down, quipping: “We have received an answer from iTunes, but it was an answer that didn’t add anything of substance. We will now continue what we have done so far, prepare to bring the case before the Market Council.” Øh snåp indeed.
However, the Market Council didn’t really do much, and Wednesday, Thon finally told the Agence France Presse: “We have no reason to pursue them anymore.” (Seems like he could have said the same thing a month ago.)
Now that this is all over, maybe Thon and Apple general counsel Daniel Cooperman can finally get together over some smørbrød?