Parts of French 'iPod Law' Struck Down

idobi writes "Parts of the French 'iPod law' have been struck down. The French Constitutional Council found certain aspects of the law to be troubling and a violation of copyright... not the copyright of artists, but companies' copyright of their DRM software." From the article: "In particular, the council eliminated reduced fines for file sharing and said companies could not be forced, without compensation, to make music sold online compatible with any music device. The law, which had been approved by the French Senate and National Assembly last month, was brought for review by the council following the demand of more than 100 members of the National Assembly. The council's review of whether the law fits within the French Constitution's framework is one of the final steps before a law is promulgated. Now it could take effect as altered by the council, or the government could bring it once more before the Parliament."

Dropping the other shoe...

[__aaclcg7560]

The fact that DRM might by copyrightable seems disturbing. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Although I'm sure the lawyers will be happy enough to make money trying to figure that out and not anytime soon.

Imprisonment for copyright infringement

[Quiberon]

Is 'imprisonment for copyright infringement' something the state does on its own account, or is it something that some private individual or corporation asks to happen ?

Would Sam Palmisano now be in fear of time in Sing-Sing if SCO won their case, if this kind of law held in the USA ?

Re:Dropping the other shoe...

[Trurl's Machine]

What the French gov't could have done is something similar to what Europe did with the wireless signals. Propose a mandatory format for sellers of digital music to use.

Not that simple, I'm afraid. DRM is not a format, it is essentially a way to handle encryption keys. Should the government choose - say - AAC or WMA as the mandatory format for online music sellers, it would still not ensure interoperatbility. The problem is not in the fact that iTMS sells AAC files, the problem is in the way they are encrypted and in the way the encryption keys are distributed. I can imagine one potential way to ensure interoperability - Apple (and other vendors) could be legally obliged to issue keys to vendors of other portable players. Just as the iPod has its "own" key repository, I think in theory - say - Creative could have a similar repository on their players. I think you could imagine a law that would require every vendor of DRM-encrypted multimedia to deliver keys to any bona fide player vendor. Such a law would satisfy both the major music corporations and the player manufacturers (not to mention us the users, proles of the digital age).

Re:WTF?

[Quiberon]

Well, no, but apparently there is a right for all to be equal before the law. And if they make a criminal offence of 'distribution without permission' (which seems a pretty stupid criminal offence, to me, but then I'm not french), then the punishment looks like it has to be a function of how many you distributed, but not how much money you got paid.

Re:Dropping the other shoe...

[jdbartlett]

Actually, that's not so far fetched. Part of the reason personal DVD-ripping is such a gray area is that most DVD-rippers use a backwards-engineered version of the Content Scrambling System, thus (it is argued) their distribution is tantamount to DRM piracy.