European Union regulators were expecting a response by Monday from Apple and several music labels regarding possible antitrust violations, but have since extended the deadline to June 20. The news came from EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes, according to Interactive Investor.

The EU has been investigating a complaint that Apple's iTunes Store prohibits consumers from purchasing music outside of their own country and that tracks are priced differently depending on where they are bought. A spokesman for Ms. Kroes commented "Customers are unable to shop around... and buy from the iTunes store they would like to. [They] are unable to buy the same tune for the same price."

The investigation began in 2004 when the British consumer association Which? filed a complaint with the British Office of Fair Trading alleging that Apple unfairly charged U.K. iTunes Store customers more than other France and Germany. The government agency later turned the case over to the European Commission citing that the agency was in a better position to rule on the complaint.

Apple claimed that pricing followed market influence and that licensing limitations from the record labels prohibit selling songs from any country's iTunes Store. The commission, however, wasn't satisfied with Apple's response.

If Apple and the music labels aren't able to reach an agreement with the European Commission, the companies could potentially be fined up to 10 percent of their annual world wide income - which could have a crippling effect on part of the music industry. Instead, the commission is more likely working to find a compromise that would keep legal music downloads alive throughout Europe.