When the French parliament passed a copyright bill back in March to force music stores to make their DRM formats interoperable with other company's DRM systems, Apple got angry towards this legislation and recently started talks with French lawyers and the senate to find a way around this legislation. Well, it looks like Apple succeeded in getting its word heard as the French Senate has just implemented an amendment to drop the requirement for interoperable DRM.
If this legislation would have gone ahead with the interoperable DRM requirement, analysts reckoned that Apple would have left the French market altogether instead of having to face up to opening its proprietary FairPlay Digital Rights Management system. If this bill becomes enacted in its current state, those who downloader music can face a fine of €38 and any individual or organisation which markets software aimed at assisting with copyright infringement can face a fine of up to €300,000 and three years jail time. However, there is a copyright exception for educational and research applications.
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The provision was meant to ensure that consumers could play digital content on any of their devices. Music purchased in Apple's iTunes store, for instance, can only be played on an iPod or a computer running the iTunes software. The proposed rule changes prompted fierce opposition from Apple, prompting Steve Jobs to compare it to a " state-sponsored culture of piracy". Analysts had suggested that the law could force Apple to retreat from the French market altogether, rather than face a requirement to open up its FairPlay DRM. A fairly detailed article on this can be read here. |
It is unclear at this time if the €38 fine for
downloading applies on a per download or overall if one is caught, particularly
since a few sources point out that that one faces a fine of €38 per song, while others point out about how one would only face a €38 fine even if they were caught with 1,000 illlegally downloaded copyrighted songs. If it is on a by song basis, then the penalty would be a lot worse than elsewhere since 1,000 songs would work out at fine of €38,000.
Source: vnu network
