The Electronic Frontier Foundation is trying to convince the U.S. Copyright office that Apple's stance against hacking the iPhone to allow unauthorized applications to run goes against the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The organization is asking for a DMCA exception for iPhone owners, but Apple claimed that iPhone hacking, or jailbreaking, amounts to copyright infringement and doesn't warrant a DMCA exception.

The only way to add Apple-approved applications to the iPhone is through the company's online App Store, leaving users that want apps that aren't available at the store with a dilemma: Go without those applications, or jailbreak.

The EFF compared jailbreaking to car owners that like to tinker with their engines or buy replacement parts that don't come from the dealer. Since jailbreaking involves modifies the iPhone's operating system to allow non-approved applications to be installed, Apple said its software copyrights are being violated.

"Apple's copyright infringement claim starts with the observation that jailbroken iPhones depend on modified versions of Apple's bootloader and operating system software," the EFF said. "True enough -- we said as much in our technical white paper describing the jailbreak process. But the courts have long recognized that copying software while reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software, a body of law that Apple conveniently fails to mention."

Should the Copyright Office agree with Apple, the company could use the ruling as ammunition if it decides to try shutting down groups that develop and release software that jailbreaks iPhones. The EFF, however, has a history of fighting for consumer rights, so don't expect the group to give up if the government sides with Apple.