With Apple busy in courtrooms around the world battling electronics giant Samsung over intellectual property rights, the company may find itself legally overwhelmed as reports surface that actor Bruce Willis is seeking to sue the iTunes distributor over ownership issues regarding iTunes music tracks.
Willis, a musician himself, has reportedly been speaking with his legal team about his right to pass on his beloved iTunes library to daughters Rumer, Scout and Tallulah in the event of his death. The actor is said to have spent many thousands of dollars building up his iTunes library.
However, Willis has learned that despite having paid for all of the music tracks, under Apple's iTunes terms and conditions he doesn't not actually "own" them but has borrowed them under a license. He therefore does not currently have legal rights to pass them on to his daughters, as it seems that the license would expire at the same time he does.
Apple's iTunes are not the only digital media to be distributing under this licensing contract. Legal ownership does not apply to consumers downloading eBooks with readers such as Amazon's Kindle.
"Lots of people will be surprised on learning all these tracks and books they have bought over the years don't actually belong to them," lawyer Chris Walton told the Daily Mail in an interview on the subject. "The law will catch up, but ideally Apple and the like will update their policies and work out the best solution for their customers."
If Willis does proceed with a lawsuit and ends up garnering a win against Apple it could set a new legal precedent with major ramifications in terms of distribution and ownership of all digital media. Out with the old model of library-style lending of digital media files and in with a new model where consumers will actually own the songs and books that they have put out the money for.