Apple facing several federal lawsuits

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Amid the options imbroglio, Apple is also facing several federal lawsuits it disclosed in its delayed regulatory filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Administration, the Associated Press is reporting.

One of those suits targets the copy-protection system we all know and bemoan that keeps iTunes music and video from playing on rival media players and also keeps content purchased elsewhere from being easily playable on iPods, according to a Saturday AP story. The suit alleges the company "created an illegal monopoly by tying" iTunes content to its market-leading iPods, the story said. The suit was filed in July and the court denied Apple's motion for dismissal on December 20, the story said.

Another lawsuit mentioned in the story "alleges that the logic board of Apple's iBook G4 fails at an abnormally high rate." And another filed by PhatRat Technology alleges patent infringement on a Nike-iPod product, the story said.