France to pass law requiring open digital music

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Apple vs. France

French lawmakers want all digital-music players to adopt common software standards. Is this Jobs & Co.'s cue to pack up its iPods and bid the country adieu?

The French have done it again. In an attempt to update copyright laws for the 21st century, lawmakers in France have thrown a giant spanner in the works of the nascent online digital music business. Late on Mar. 21, the lower house of the legislature, the Assemblé National, passed a law that will require sellers of digital-music players and online music services in France to open up their technical standards and become entirely interoperable.

The law, passed by the National Assembly by a vote of 296 to 193, requires companies that sell digital-music files in France to open up their digital rights management systems so that the files can be played on any device. The law, if ultimately enacted, may set the stage for Apple to shut down its digital-music sales operations in the country, though Apple hasn't said one way or the other if that is the case.

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Interesting, either this will harm the DRM in place on itunes' files or Apple will abandon france.