Corona | Coming Attractions

Bruce Willis is suing Apple over who gets ownership of his digital music collection after he dies.

As the story goes, the 57-year-old (and in good health) actor was talking recently with his financial advisors about who would get ownership of his substantial music collection after he passes away. Willis decided that the collection would be split between his three grown daughters, but the lawyers gave him a shock: according to the terms of service that Apple's iTunes makes you agree to, you don't own any copies of the digital music that you buy from iTunes. Instead, what happens when the owner passes away is that the virtual copy is rendered null and void and cannot be transferred to anyone else.

At first glance this may seem like a minor celeb story of interest but it actually could go much further than that. Willis has the financial pockets and visual clout to take on Apple, and already this news bits is being picked up by both the entertainment and tech blogs. Furthermore, with more people buying digital copies of music, as well as movies and books, the public may start waking up and wondering exactly what they are buying from Apple. Questions may arise as to why buying a digital copy is different than buying the work in print or on a disc. And if the case does wind up in court, what if a judge determines that Apple doesn't have any legal ground to claim that there's a difference between owning a work digitally or on another older medium?

So far neither Willis nor Apple have decided to state an official response just yet.

UPDATE: TechCrunch is reporting that Willis' wife is denying that her husband has any plans to sue Apple.