Well the folks over at AT&T and also Apple are going to come under the microscope for a deal they had which gave AT&T a five year exclusive rights to provide service for the Apple iPhone. Consumers are saying that the agreement violates their rights. It seems that consumers were only obliged to abide by a two year contract with AT&T. But once the contract ended, they were unable to use any other provider. The phone worked with AT&T only.

In his statement the judge stated:

Plaintiffs allege… that unknown to consumers, the companies had agreed to technologically restrict voice and data service in the aftermarket for continued voice and data services, i.e., after the initial two-year service period expired. The question before the Court is whether if these allegations are true, the Complaint states a claim for a violation of the federal antitrust laws and other consumer protection laws. The Court finds that it does.

So it appears that the anti-trust charges against the two companies will be allowed to proceed. It should be interesting to see how this turns out and what affect this could have on consumers.

One would hope that this could provide some relief for those who get stuck in such future situations as well.

Comments welcome.

Source.