The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has petitioned the Library of Congress to officially protect phone owners who bypass software restrictions on their phones?aka "jailbreaking." Apple has just filed an objection, arguing that doing so would infringe on their copyright.
If Apple gets its way, it would have the right to claim statutory damages of up to $2,500 "per act of circumvention." People who jailbreak phones, might even be subject to criminal penalties of as long as five years, if they circumvented copyright for a financial gain.
http://consumerist.com/5153597/apple...time-2500-fine