France waters down copyright bill
23 June 2006
France waters down copyright bill
A panel of French MPs have agreed to water down controversial proposals which threaten the future of Apple's iTunes presence in the country.
Seven representatives from each of the upper and lower houses of parliament voted late Thursday to tone the draft French copyright bill. The Business Software Alliance (BSA) had only recently called the proposed legislation a "sword of Damocles" hanging over the head of content retailers.
In it's initial form, passed by the National Assembly in March, the bill required that online retailers provide access to their digital rights management (DRM) technology to facilitate the conversion of music from one format to another. The intention being to open up the digital music market so that content bought from any store could be played on any music player. The proposal was attacked by Apple as "state sponsored piracy".
The proposals made yesterday still recommend that music retailers share DRM information to facilitate interoperability, but a loophole could allow Apple and its peers to sidestep such requests by striking deals with record labels and artists allowing the restriction of content to certain formats or systems.
It remains to be seen how such an amendment would sit alongside the creation of an independent authority to review demands for DRM disclosure, as called for by the Senate. Telecoms.com believes that the copyright holders would have the ultimate say in how their content is used and the Authority for the Regulation of Technical Measures, as it is to be known, would not be able to rule otherwise.
The amended proposals will still need to be presented to both French houses for a further vote before the bill becomes law.
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