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Dec. 13, 2014 / 7:15 PM

Former iTunes engineer claims he worked on project to block competition

The company claims iPods were not programmed to delete music from third parties.

San Francisco locals get the first look at the newly released iPod Touch at Moscone Center in San Francisco on September 5, 2007. Features of the newest iPod include wireless access to the internet and access to recent songs played at Starbucks locations. (UPI Photo/Aaron Kehoe)

San Francisco locals get the first look at the newly released iPod Touch at Moscone Center in San Francisco on September 5, 2007. Features of the newest iPod include wireless access to the internet and access to recent songs played at Starbucks locations. (UPI Photo/Aaron Kehoe) | License Photo

CUPERTINO, Calif., Dec. 13 (UPI) -- A former Apple engineer named Rod Schultz was subpoenaed Friday for a court case concerning if Apple programmed its iPod music players to delete non-iTunes music.

Schultz claims he did work on a project to "block 100% of non-iTunes clients" and "keep out third-party players" from 2006-2007, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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The plaintiffs attempted to include a 2012 academic paper Schultz wrote about Apple's fight against hackers, but Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers didn't allow the paper to be used as evidence. Apple claims any deletions that occurred were due to security measures being used to fight off hackers.

Attorney Patrick Coughlin claims users with third-party music files would get an error message instructing them to restore their iPod to its factory settings when they tried to sync their iPod with their iTunes library and the music would be deleted once they did that.

The prosecutors for the class-action antitrust lawsuit are seeking roughly $350 million in damages for the company's alleged efforts to remove competition. They believe Apple deleted the files without telling users in an attempt to drive customers to iTunes.

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Schultz claimed the actions of his team created "marketplace dominance" for the iPod.

Apple' security director, Augustin Farrugia, claimed the company didn't want to "confuse users" by alerting them of deleted music files.

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