Apple Declares Copyright Infringement

On February 12, 2009 Apple Inc stated that “jailbreaking” its iPhone is copyright infringement and a DMCA violation. This is the first occasion that Apple has made a formal statement regarding the legality of jailbreaking the iPhone. The term jailbreaking refers to removing the limitations set on the iPhone in order to download applications and software not created by Apple. The term also refers to “cracking” the iPhone so that the phone can be used with mobile carriers other than AT&T.


On August 21, 2007 a teenager named George Hotz declared on his blog that he had successfully manually unlocked Apple's iPhone. This means that he had found a way for the phone to be compatible with other mobile service providers than just AT&T; this inherently breaks the monopoly that Apple and AT&T had over the iPhone. Though Hotz gets the credit for hacking the iPhone, he had worked on a team known as iPhone Dev; he was later banned from the group.

Hotz's manual unlock has been replaced by a software unlock that is most commonly used today. In order to “jailbreak” the iPhone, the phone must be unlocked using one of those two techniques. After being unlocked, software and applications not created by Apple can be downloaded onto the iPhone. It is estimated that the number of iPhones that have been “jailbroken” are in the hundreds of thousands.
Apple is comparing the violation to laser inkjet printers- where ink cartridges are not universal; they only work with the specific type of printer. It can also be compared to garage door openers- the remote opener is compatible with only one brand of garage door opener.
Some web sites are comparing Apple's iPhone compatibility issues with that of the automobile industry. Say that Ford car owners could only get parts or service at Ford-operated service businesses. That would create a mini-monopoly over the car industry. Though some car companies have done this already in a way- Toyota's Prius can only be serviced at a Toyota-certified service station. This is for safety reasons though, since the hybrid Prius runs on both electric battery and gas-fueled engine. However, for the general automobile market, this format would be unrealistic.


Part of this argument for jailbreaking the iPhone is that software developers can be given creative license with applications, similar to the applications available on Facebook. The possibilities are near endless when it comes to uses for the iPhone. The channel has already been created, now the creative messages can be assembled.





























The general consensus among iPhone users and those concerned with the iPhone's incompatibility with applications that are non-Apple is that Apple is “in the wrong” here. If people are hacking a system, or hacking a product, it means that the way it's working right now is not the best it could be. If Apple wanted to stop the hacking or “jailbreaking” of the iPhone, it would create the iPhone so it is open so that software developers could create applications for download that would be available to the public.