Apple’s had to deal with a lot of stupid lawsuits over the years, but this one takes the prize.

An antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple on Dec. 31 charges the company with maintaining an illegal monopoly on the digital music market – because iPods don’t support Microsoft’s WMA format.

“Apple’s iPod is alone among mass-market Digital Music Players in not supporting the WMA format,” states the suit. “Apple has engaged in tying and monopolizing behavior, placing unneeded and unjustifiable technological restrictions on its most popular products in an effort to restrict consumer choice, and to restrain what little remains of its competition in the digital music markets.”

Plaintiff Stacie Somers alleges that Apple has a monopoly in online video, music and portable media players that constitutes a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Somers’ attorneys are seeking to have their lawsuit certified as a class action.

Somers’ case may be hindered by the facts that

• Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been the most notable critic of DRM’d music;
• iPods support MP3s, the most commonly used music file format;
• Everybody and their mother now sells DRM-free MP3s;
• The vast majority of music on portable media players comes from ripped CDs;
• Microsoft did in its own Playsforsure partners; and most importantly
• The judge’s got an iPod.

via InformationWeek