Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. did not breach the law in the way its iTunes store sold downloadable songs for the iPod music player, the Dutch antitrust regulator said.

``Consumers who buy music through the Internet store of Apple can and may also play this music on devices other than the iPod,'' the antitrust regulator NMa said today in an e-mailed statement. ``It appears that there's no conditional sale.''

Dutch consumer organization Consumentenbond in January accused Cupertino, California-based Apple of abusing its ``considerable market power.'' The iTunes online store sells music with copyright protection software, which makes it harder to play songs on devices other than Apple's iPod.

There are ways to bypass the protection, Barbara van der Rest, spokeswoman for The Hague-based NMa said today. ``ITunes have to be copied to the computer's hard drive before they can be loaded onto another device,'' said Van der Rest. ``It's something you have to know, but it's indeed possible.''

Ewald van Kouwen, a spokesman for Consumentenbond, said iTunes buyers are not allowed to bypass any copyright protection and may face criminal and civil lawsuits for doing so.

Apple's Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs in February asked EMI Group Plc, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group Corp. to let Apple remove so-called digital rights management software from iTunes tracks.

Apple's iTunes, the largest online music seller, began offering unprotected EMI recordings May 30. EMI's catalog includes the Rolling Stones, Norah Jones and Coldplay.

The consumer organization won't appeal NMa's decision, Van Kouwen said. ``There are specific developments in the market, such as the EMI deal, indicating Apple is taking concrete steps into a different direction. We got what we wanted,'' he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marcel van de Hoef in Amsterdam at mvandehoef@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 6, 2007 09:51 EDT