France DRM Law Gutted In Committee

Boing Boing reports that the French DRM legislation that would have forced Apple and other online music stores to have their songs be interoperable with all portable media players in France has been gutted in committee.

The original law was met by fierce criticism from Apple, who called the law "state-sponsored piracy." Many analysts believed that Apple would just as soon pull-out of the French market than to change their business model or allow free distribution of unprotected songs.

The latest version of the law removes the requirement for DRM publishers (like Apple) to give information needed for interoperability. In addition, "information needed for interoperability" used to be defined as being able to obtain a copy of the copyrighted material in an open standard; this is now defined as being able to obtain a protected copy of a copyrighted work.