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digital music/video

06/22/2006, 8:55am, EDT

Thursday, June 22nd

France approves iTunes DRM bill

French lawmakers today agreed on the softened draft law that threatened Apple's iPod/iTunes ecosystem. The original bill was dubbed "state-sponsored piracy" by Apple, and the latest version of the law includes a loophole for digital music vendors that offers record labels more leverage. Under the new bill, a regulatory authority will hold the power to resolve disputes by forcing companies to license their exclusive file formats -- such as Apple's FairPlay and Sony's ATRAC3 -- to competitors, but only if the restrictions they impose are "additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders," according to the Associated Press. The U.S. government backed Apple in its fight against the new law in late March, saying that companies need to protect their intellectual property.


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Other story tags: digital music/video

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ibugv4
any day now
0
06/22, 3:31pm, EDT
there will be no more iTunes france.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined Jun 2003
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bigpoppa206
To be expected
0
06/22, 3:38pm, EDT
that in the 11th hour they would reach a compromise. Now if we can get the rest to follow suit....?!!!!
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Joined Jun 2003
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