EU antitrust regulators

European Union antitrust regulators today said they were investigating the European agencies that collect royalties for musicians from online vendors, such as Apple's iTunes Music Store, to open the market for online music. The European Commission said it was concerned that contracts with composers, organized strictly along national lines, may violate rules on restrictive business practices and provide national copyright agencies with a monopoly, according to a report from the Associated Press. Commercial users that want to buy the rights are required to obtain a license from each national society which only covers that country-- a complicated and expensive process for online music sites hoping to make songs available online across the European Union. Apple's iTunes has separate French, German, and British sites with a different portfolio of music tracks, according to the report.

by MacNN Staff