France amends DRM bill

Apple can breathe a bit easier, but will still have to renegotiate contracts with music labels and copyright holders if it wishes use its propietary iTunes music protections in France. The French Senate yesterday approved a new softened version of its copyright bill that would force companies to open-up their digital rights management (DRM) technology to their competitors to allow interoperability between different digital music services and music players, such as the iPod. Apple's "closed" ecosystem currently only allows tracks purchased on iTunes to played on the iPod. The newly added amendment would allow companies to keep their own DRM technologies and protections if they have the the approval of the copyright holders themselves.

After calling the initial version passed by the French National Assembly in March "state-sponsored piracy," industry analysts speculated that Apple would simply pull iTunes, which commands more than 65 percent marketshare in Europe, out of France rather than share its FairPlay DRM technology used to prevent piracy of purchased songs. The DRM also limits playback to its popular iPod devices.

Macworld UK reports that the French Senate voted to create a new regulatory authority responsible for mediating requests.

"The authority will have the power to order companies to share details of their DRM, but companies will be able to refuse as long as their DRM systems only limit usage of digital music or movies in a way approved by the author or copyright holder," according to the report.

The report also notes that open-source developers trying to make their code compatible with DRM-protected systems will also face a possible challenge: "DRM technology owners will be allowed to prohibit publication of source code developed using the details they provide, if they can show that such publication would seriously effect the security and effectiveness of their DRM system."

by MacNN Staff