Filed under: Apple CorporateAn "early stage" investigation at the US Department of Justice (DoJ) is looking at whether Apple is using its considerable position in the online music sales business to hinder Amazon's efforts. Specifically, the probe will focus on whether Apple unfairly leveraged iTunes to deny Amazon's Mp3 store exclusive access to songs.
It's been alleged that Apple threatened to withhold their typical promotional activities from labels who continued to offer exclusives to Amazon. Those songs would still see sales in iTunes, of course, but significantly less without Apple's promotional efforts behind them.
