Apple changed course this week and dropped its legal threats against the Bluwiki Web site over DRM violation claims, and in response the Electronic Frontier Foundation dropped its lawsuit against Apple.

OdioWorks, the company that operates the Bluwiki online forum was hit with a notice from Apple in late 2008 demanding it remove iPod and iPhone-related information from its Web site over copyright and Digital Millenium Copyright issues. Information on the forum apparently described how to use an iPhone or iPod with music and movie management applications other than iTunes.

The company replaced the forum entry, which was titled "Ipodhash," with a notice that they had been asked to remove it after receiving the request from Apple's legal team. OdioWorks and the EFF filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in April with an assertion that the forum entries did not violate Apple's copyrights or the DMCA.

According to the EFF, Apple withdrew its takedown notice demands on July 8 by stating "Apple no longer has, nor will it have in the future, any objection to the publication of the iTunesDB Pages."

The EFF responded my moving to dismiss the case against Apple. The legal rights organization, however, didn't drop the suit without sending a warning Apple's way.

"While we are glad that Apple retracted its baseless legal threats, we are disappointed that it only came after seven months of censorship and a lawsuit," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "Because Apple continues to use technical measures to lock iPod touch and iPhone owners into -- and Palm Pre owners out of -- using Apple's iTunes software, I wouldn't be surprised if there are more discussions among frustrated customers about reverse engineering Apple products. We hope Apple has learned its lesson here and will give those online discussions a wide berth in the future."

The EFF doesn't appear to be saying it plans to sue Apple again, but it's clear the organization is keeping a close watch on Apple's activities.

[Thanks to The Loop for the heads up.]