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French Lawmakers Approve Bill Forcing Apple to Open iTunes to Rivals

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 21, 2006 - 6:29am.
Paris - French lawmakers on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a controversial bill that would require interoperability between online copyright-protection technologies, essentially forcing companies like Apple and Sony to make their iPods, iTunes Stores and Walkman devices in France work with one another. The bill now moves to the French Senate, which is expected to take up the matter in May. "These clauses, which we hope will be taken up by other countries, notably at the European level, should prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the supply of online culture," said Richard Cazenave and Bernard Carayon, National Assembly deputies from the ruling UMP party. If the proposal becomes law, it's unclear whether Apple, Sony and others will choose to release their closely-guarded copyright-protection technologies to their competitors, or simply shut down iTunes and similar operations in France. "It is important to consumers to have the ability to move songs between their various listening devices," John Kennedy, chairman and CEO of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, told the Associated Press. Other segments of the French copyright bill would lower the penalties for downloading music and movies from unauthorized file-sharing networks to between $50 and $180. Those who circumvent copy-protection systems would be fined $4,600, while those who distribute illicit file-sharing software would still face jail time and up to $365,000 in fines.
tags: Apple | iTunes | Bill | French Lawmakers | Rivals |