Stacie Somers v. Apple, Inc.

Plaintiff-Appellant Stacie Somers (Som-ers) brought a putative class action against Defendant-Appellee Apple, Inc. (Apple), alleging federal and state antitrust claims. Somers seeks to represent a class of indirect purchasers of the iPod, Apple’s portable digital media player (PDMP), and a class of direct purchasers of music downloaded from Apple’s iTunes Music Store (iTS). She alleges that Apple encoded iTS music files with its proprietary Digital Rights Management (DRM), called Fair-Play, which rendered iTS music and the iPod compatible only with each other. She further claims that through certain software updates, Apple excluded competitors and obtained a monopoly in the PDMP and music download markets, which inflated Apple’s music prices and deflated the value of the iPod. Somers requests damages and injunctive relief in the form of DRM-free music files.

Somers moved to certify a class of indirect purchasers of the iPod under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23(b)(3), which the district court denied. After giving Somers two opportunities to amend her complaint, the district court also dismissed Somers’ antitrust claims with prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure…