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French copyright law hits Apple

Metrogirl

By Metrogirl

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"French lawmakers approved an online copyright bill that would require Apple to break open the exclusive format behind its market-leading iTunes music store and iPod players."

 

After several months' legal wrangling, draft French legislation was passed yesterday which, among other things, will either force Apple to change DRM mechanisms in iTunes, or abandon the service in France.

 

"Lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, voted 296-193 Tuesday to approve the bill. The legislation now has to be debated and voted by the Senate -- a process expected to begin in May.

 

Apple has so far refused to comment on the bill or on analysts' suggestions that the Cupertino, California-based company might choose to withdraw from the French online music market rather than share the proprietary technology at the heart of its business model. Representatives for Apple France did not return calls Tuesday.

 

Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple's FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony's Connect store and Walkman players.

 

That would permit consumers for the first time to download music directly to their iPods from stores other than iTunes, or to rival music players from iTunes France.

 

Apple has most to lose because of its phenomenal penetration of the digital music market, according to analysts. Critics of the French move say legislators have no business forcing Apple to share its proprietary format -- arguing that customers know its limitations when they choose to buy an iPod."

 

Other aspects of the bill reduce penalties and loosen constraints on file-sharing while making some provisions more restrictive including definitive 30-150 euro fines who break copyright for personal use.

 

Read the full article here or pre-vote background here.

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Ouch

The french apple store only makes up 2% of sales and it runs at a loss anyway, so Apple won't have much to loose by just dropping thier french store except maybe a few iPod sales.

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warmcola

in a reply from apple this morning. apple said that this bill will do nothing but encourage "state-sponsored piracy" and would likely increase ipod sales. there is also much speculation that if this bill is passed by the french senate in may apple may choose to pull out of the french market altogether.

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scousi
in a reply from apple this morning. apple said that this bill will do nothing but encourage "state-sponsored piracy" and would likely increase ipod sales. there is also much speculation that if this bill is passed by the french senate in may apple may choose to pull out of the french market altogether.

 

 

Apple is a little hypocrytical. I'm sure that 80% of the contents of iPods is pirated music and they know it. I like this law because the intent is to force the market towards a standard DRM solution.

 

There has to be a balance between protecting artists and protecting consumers from abuse by large companies. The Music industry has paid millions of dollars in fines for price fixing so they are untrustworthy.

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Ouch

The reason apple doesn't like the french ruling has nothing to do with piracy. Its because iTMS is a platform on which to promote the iPod, if iTMS was to support other media devices then it would undermine the purpose of it's existance (iTMS makes no money - but iPods make more than apple's computers). If Apple gave in to the french ruling, it could set an unwelcome precedent for other countries to follow.

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wmarsh

I like iTunes Music Store. They have songs you can't get elsewhere.

 

But I have a Samsung Yepp, not an iPod, and since iTunes 6 broke JHYMN, the only way I can put songs on my Yepp is to burn them to CDs, then rip the CDs to mp3s.

 

My Yepp is smaller than an iPod, takes regular AA batteries, and has a display that lists the song titles. When I bought it, it cost less too.

 

Apple is using the DRM to try to force me to buy an iPod.

 

This is an infuriating example of unfair competition and potentially a monopoly in the making.

 

Three cheers for the French. We should all write our congressmen and encourage them to pass similiar legislation.

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Jonny_T
I like iTunes Music Store. They have songs you can't get elsewhere.

 

But I have a Samsung Yepp, not an iPod, and since iTunes 6 broke JHYMN, the only way I can put songs on my Yepp is to burn them to CDs, then rip the CDs to mp3s.

 

My Yepp is smaller than an iPod, takes regular AA batteries, and has a display that lists the song titles. When I bought it, it cost less too.

 

Apple is using the DRM to try to force me to buy an iPod.

 

This is an infuriating example of unfair competition and potentially a monopoly in the making.

 

Three cheers for the French. We should all write our congressmen and encourage them to pass similiar legislation.

I hate to tell you this, but you would still have to re-rip an iTMS track to be able to play it on your Yepp as it doesn't support playback of AAC files. Likewise anyone buying a WMA track and wanting to put it on their iPod. This is the one thing that really bugs me most about all the iPod "competitors" - they don't support the default iTunes format (AAC) so if you buy one, you will have to re-rip all your tunes from CD again. That is just punishing the end-user and making their products far less attractive to buy for someone who already has an iPod or for someone who uses iTunes to manage their music.

 

Two cheers for the French. Unfortunately this law is just ridiculous - the premise is correct, but the target is wrong. Just ban the use of DRM altogether and there would be no need for half-arsed measures for compatibility.

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domino

Baby steps. I think this is a big win siding the consumer. I hope other countries follow suite. Yes, converting codecs is a task, but all it takes is drag and drop using many free utiltities.

 

The way I see it is, what ever content you buy, you are free to watch and listen to it on any player you please. If the corps are competing against one another to win the largest target audiance, shouldn't my pocketbook be looking out for the product with the best bang for bucks? So if you really support Apple's iPods, then go for it. Just don't limit us with what content we can and can't play on it.

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wmarsh
I hate to tell you this, but you would still have to re-rip an iTMS track to be able to play it on your Yepp as it doesn't support playback of AAC files.

 

Actually, until iTunes 6, the open source program JHYMN would convert these files directly to mp3s.

 

They say they are working on iTunes 6, but it will be awhile.

 

http://www.hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/

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