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France Approves DRM Law
by , 9:35 AM EDT, June 30th, 2006
The French government passed the bill designed to open copy protection schemes into law on Friday. The law says that companies like Apple, Microsoft and Sony should open their digital rights management (DRM) copy protection schemes to competitors so that all music downloads can be played on any portable music device.
According to Forbes, there is still one last chance to shoot down the law since French opposition Socialists filed a constitutional challenge last week. Unless the challenge succeeds, the law will go into effect as planned.
The law does, however, still contain "loophole" language that allows companies to refuse to share their proprietary copy protection technology as long as music copyright holders and musicians agree to new contracts.
Apple and other music distributors have been opposed to the law, stating that forcing companies to open their copy protection technology will lead to more music piracy and hurt the market. Apple went so far as to call the original version of the legislation "state-sponsored piracy."
Some industry analysts have predicted that Apple may close down the iTunes Music Store in France to avoid the possibility of being required to share the code behind its FairPlay copy protection. Right now, music purchased from the iTunes Music Store will only play on the iPod.
Representatives from Apple were not available for comment.
Observer Comments
I don't think "surrender" is really an option, unless you consider giving France the finger and withdrawing from that particular market to be surrendering. There's no way Apple is going to open up FairPlay just because France wants them to. That would hurt them all across the world, and I just don't think France is that important to them.
But this law has gotten much more reasonable since it was first proposed, to the point where it seems like the only reason it still exists is to save face for the people who originally drafted it. Obviously the record labels will agree to the current system. I mean, they did once, didn't they?! So I don't think this will affect Apple at all. The record labels certainly aren't against restrictive DRM.
At this point, I think it's a non-issue.
Sat Jul 01, 2006 3:04 pm Subject:
Despite the new deliberate loophole, it seems to me Apple will close the French store anyway.
Firstly because Apple is a company that will prefer to comply with the spirit of the legislation rather than using a loophole planted as a kind of duplicitous invitation to brinkmanship.
Secondly, because it appears to require only one song to have been resold in France with some technical error in the artist's license, to force Apple to open Fairplay. That artist will be offered large inducements not to revise the licence.
Thirdly because the fines proposed are out of all proportion to Apple's part in the reselling of licences. Apple wants control of the DRM in order to negotiate successfully with rights holders. If the rights holders are happy to offer non-DRM songs, I'm sure Apple is happy to sell them.
Fourthly, because it apparently isn't only France that can't think straight on this subject. A stand has to be made.
I'd close the store and steer Microsoft towards an accidental "open WMA DRM or pay a billion dollar fine".
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