Die Hard star, Bruce Willis, is reportedly considering going up against Apple in a legal battle about wanting to leave his digital music collection to his daughters. Willis has apparently spent thousands of dollars on downloading music and would like to legally pass it on to his three daughters, Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah.
Like others before him, Willis has discovered that he doesn’t actually own any of the music he’s purchased from iTunes, but is instead ‘borrowing’ it under a license. Apple has changed the way people can access music, but has made it clear that any music purchased from iTunes should not be shared or passed on to others.
If Willis were to win, it could benefit not only himself and his family, but the millions of people who have purchased songs from Apple’s iTunes Store.
According to the Daily Mail, Willis has two options: he could ask his legal team to establish a family trust as the ‘holder’ of his downloaded music, or he could support ongoing legal action in five US states to give downloaders more rights to do what they want with their music.
This definitely won’t be an easy battle for Willis with all the power that Apple established for itself. Apple can freeze any iTunes accounts if the owner is believed to be passing on music to others, such as transferring songs to any MP3 players not owned by the account holder.
Lawyer Chris Walton said of the matter: “Lots of people will be surprised on learning all those tracks and books they have bought ofter the years don’t actually belong to them. It’s only natural you would want to pass them on to a loved one. The law will catch up, but ideally Apple and the like will update their policies and work out the best solution for their customers.”
It will be interesting to see how all of this unfolds. If Willis wins, it could change the future of digital music rights, shifting the power from Apple to the downloaders.
Source: The Daily Mail via BGR
Image Credit: entertainment
