COPYCENSE

“As French lawmakers completed the text of a new copyright bill early Friday morning, supporters of open-source software claimed a victory of sorts, while others lamented the coming criminalization of peer-to-peer software.

“Measures in the bill could force companies using DRM to publish details of the system, letting other manufacturers to develop interoperable systems. The measures are widely seen as aimed at companies such as Apple Computer Inc. By refusing to disclose details of its FairPlay DRM system, Apple effectively shuts out competitors from developing digital music players that can play music downloaded directly from its iTunes Music Store, or from selling DRM-protected music that will play on an Apple iPod.

Peter Sayer. French Bill That Could Open iTunes Ready. InfoWorld. March 17, 2006.

See also:

Thomas Crampton. France Drafts Copyright Law, But What Does It Mean? International Herald Tribune. March 17, 2006.

Yahoo! News. Apple’s iTunes Could Tune Out In France Over Proposed Law: Experts. March 17, 2006.

Updates:

Freedom to Tinker. Bernard Lang Reports on the Proposed French DRM Law. March 28, 2006

Australian IT. Uncle Sam Backs Apple. March 24, 2006.

Bill Rosenblatt. French Parliament Passes DRM Interoperability Legislation. DRM Watch. March 23, 2006.

Yahoo! News. French Copyright Law “State-Sponsored Piracy”: Apple. March 22, 2006.

Elinor Mills. Apple Calls French Law ‘”State-Sponsored Piracy.” News.com. March 22, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.