Bruce Willis Planning Legal Battle to Leave iTunes Library in His Will

xg4bx · 09-03-2012, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Action movie legend Bruce Willis is apparently eyeing up a legal battle in order to guarantee that he can pass his massive iTunes library onto his children when he dies.

The Daily Mail is reporting that Willis is concerned about the fact that upon his death his entire music collection will revert to Apple ownership. As a result, he's taking some major steps to ensure that his tunes instead pass directly to his three daughters.

So far, he's been looking into "family trusts" which act as legal holders of the downloaded music. But the Mail also reports that he's prepared to take Apple to court over the issue.

http://gizmodo.com/5940045/bruce-wil...ry-in-his-will

Nexutix · 09-03-2012, 08:41 AM

This question about transfer of iTunes libraries has been mentioned here on MR already as a thread.

Simplest solution people found was to give heirs access to their accounts. Seems like it gets complicated. Apple's KNOWS that this will reduce their customer base size.

Namekuseijin · 09-03-2012, 09:25 AM

my eternal hero

Kali Yuga · 09-03-2012, 09:31 AM

iTunes dropped its DRM requirements a long time ago. If you bought stuff during the DRM era, you can pay a few extra cents per song and convert it to DRM-free.

All Willis had to do was call up a Genius Bar, and he'd be set. He'll pay more for legal fees than he ever would in upgrade costs.

I'd say that as far as iTunes music goes, this is DOA.

That said, transferring of ownership and rights still remains for DRM'ed materials, email accounts, social networking accounts, user passwords, etc etc....

Catlady · 09-03-2012, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

iTunes dropped its DRM requirements a long time ago. If you bought stuff during the DRM era, you can pay a few extra cents per song and convert it to DRM-free.

All Willis had to do was call up a Genius Bar, and he'd be set. He'll pay more for legal fees than he ever would in upgrade costs.

I'd say that as far as iTunes music goes, this is DOA.

That said, transferring of ownership and rights still remains for DRM'ed materials, email accounts, social networking accounts, user passwords, etc etc....

The article is sketchy, but I wonder if he's doing it for principle and to try to establish a precedent. That would be a valuable service for the rest of us who don't have his resources.

murraypaul · 09-03-2012, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

iTunes dropped its DRM requirements a long time ago. If you bought stuff during the DRM era, you can pay a few extra cents per song and convert it to DRM-free.

All Willis had to do was call up a Genius Bar, and he'd be set. He'll pay more for legal fees than he ever would in upgrade costs.

I'd say that as far as iTunes music goes, this is DOA.

That said, transferring of ownership and rights still remains for DRM'ed materials, email accounts, social networking accounts, user passwords, etc etc....

I think you are confusing the issue of being physically able to transfer materials and being legally able to transfer them.
DRM'd or not has no effect on his legal ability to transfer ownership of his music files. If they are licensed to him personally, and that license is not transferrable, then they cannot be passed on.

David Munch · 09-03-2012, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Catlady

The article is sketchy, but I wonder if he's doing it for principle and to try to establish a precedent. That would be a valuable service for the rest of us who don't have his resources.

When you have money in piles, I assume you just buy anything that seems interesting, so I assume his library is several thousands large, and thus worth a lot to his children.

I wonder how they will deal with the digital aspects of single songs. I mean, does all his children get all files, or does one get one album, another another album and so on, until all song are divided?

curtw · 09-03-2012, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

iTunes dropped its DRM requirements a long time ago. If you bought stuff during the DRM era, you can pay a few extra cents per song and convert it to DRM-free.

It appears to me that this feature has been phased out. I was just looking for it last week, when I realized that one of my .m4p files had been corrupted, and I thought it would be quicker and easier to upgrade than to restore from backup. I looked for about 10 minutes, but couldn't find the link.

Unless you know where to find it?

mewmartigan · 09-03-2012, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by curtw

It appears to me that this feature has been phased out. I was just looking for it last week, when I realized that one of my .m4p files had been corrupted, and I thought it would be quicker and easier to upgrade than to restore from backup. I looked for about 10 minutes, but couldn't find the link.

Unless you know where to find it?

When you first open iTunes, and go to the store, there is a link on the right side under quick links called "iTunes Plus". Go there and you should have the choice to upgrade your songs for $0.30 each.

iTunes Plus is at the very bottom of the quick links for me.

tubemonkey · 09-03-2012, 11:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mewmartigan

Go there and you should have the choice to upgrade your songs for $0.30 each.

Wow, that's expensive. Sure glad I no longer buy music. At home, I get genre listening from Pandora and songs on demand from You Tube. When driving, FM radio provides my music. On foot, it's FM radio and MP3s (from my CD collection).

Barcey · 09-03-2012, 02:08 PM

Sounds like another sequel to me.

iDie Hard

JoHunt · 09-03-2012, 02:22 PM

It's being reported that his iTunes library is valued at £40,000

Dylrob · 09-03-2012, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Wow, that's expensive. Sure glad I no longer buy music. At home, I get genre listening from Pandora and songs on demand from You Tube. When driving, FM radio provides my music. On foot, it's FM radio and MP3s (from my CD collection).

No doubt the record label demanded that fee. They are the real douche bags in all this. If it were up to them fair use probably wouldn't exist at all.

mewmartigan · 09-03-2012, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylrob

No doubt the record label demanded that fee. They are the real douche bags in all this. If it were up to them fair use probably wouldn't exist at all.

When the program initially started it was $0.10 per song....I guess the price went up after the introductory offer. iTunes Plus has been around for a while now.

DarkScribe · 09-03-2012, 05:00 PM

I cannot speak for other jurisdictions, but in Australia if you buy an iTunes song you actually own it. Our (very strong and very easy to enforce) Trade Practices Act dismisses fine print. It regards what is offered as valid if it is "What a reasonable person would expect" on seeing the original offer. The iTunes store says "Buy now for $xxx", not lease or rent now, so here if you "buy" it, you own it. I have used our Trade Practice law successfully in the past.

09-03-2012, 08:41 AM	#2
Nexutix Reading and reading Posts: 582 Karma: 8250144 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Infibeam Pi, iPod Touch 4G, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, Oneplus One	This question about transfer of iTunes libraries has been mentioned here on MR already as a thread. Simplest solution people found was to give heirs access to their accounts. Seems like it gets complicated. Apple's KNOWS that this will reduce their customer base size. Last edited by Nexutix; 09-03-2012 at 08:46 AM.

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09-03-2012, 09:25 AM	#3
Namekuseijin affordable chipmunk Posts: 1,290 Karma: 9863855 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Brazil Device: Sony XPeria ZL, Kindle Paperwhite	my eternal hero

09-03-2012, 09:31 AM	#4
Kali Yuga Professional Contrarian Posts: 2,045 Karma: 3289631 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kindle 4 No Touchie	iTunes dropped its DRM requirements a long time ago. If you bought stuff during the DRM era, you can pay a few extra cents per song and convert it to DRM-free. All Willis had to do was call up a Genius Bar, and he'd be set. He'll pay more for legal fees than he ever would in upgrade costs. I'd say that as far as iTunes music goes, this is DOA. That said, transferring of ownership and rights still remains for DRM'ed materials, email accounts, social networking accounts, user passwords, etc etc....

09-03-2012, 02:08 PM	#11
Barcey Wizard Posts: 1,531 Karma: 8059866 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Canada Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3	Sounds like another sequel to me. iDie Hard

09-03-2012, 02:22 PM	#12
JoHunt I am what I am Posts: 6,625 Karma: 62235665 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: iPad3, Voyage	It's being reported that his iTunes library is valued at £40,000

09-03-2012, 05:00 PM	#15
DarkScribe Apprentice Curmudgeon. Posts: 427 Karma: 3286968 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Runaway Bay, QLD, , Australia Device: Kindle DX Graphite, Touch, Paperwhite, Sony, and Nook.	I cannot speak for other jurisdictions, but in Australia if you buy an iTunes song you actually own it. Our (very strong and very easy to enforce) Trade Practices Act dismisses fine print. It regards what is offered as valid if it is "What a reasonable person would expect" on seeing the original offer. The iTunes store says "Buy now for $xxx", not lease or rent now, so here if you "buy" it, you own it. I have used our Trade Practice law successfully in the past.