Two major French film distributors have signed a release deal with New Medium Enterprises, the company behind a new high-definition DVD called HD VMD, or High Definition Versatile Multilayer Disc.
A controversial copyright law, which would have cracked open digital rights management and allowed interoperability between competing Apple and Microsoft music players has been dealt a major blow, as important sections of the legislation have been declared unconstitutional.
The upper house of the French Parliament has made last-minute changes to a bill that would have effectively relaxed digital rights management restrictions and interoperability issues for playing MP3 files. The politicians softened their stance, which would have forced Apple and other providers of copy-protected music to share its DRM license, making its music playable on any device.
French lawmakers could take a bite out of Apple’s online music market by passing legislation that would allow iPod users to download music from stores other than Apple iTunes.
Government administrators and lawmakers are fiercely divided about how best to deal with peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted movies and music, with administrators favoring a bill that would make the practice explicitly illegal and lawmakers pushing a compromise that would charge users for downloads.
