By Jo Best, 14 February 2005 14:40
NEWS Apple and Sony are to appear in court over claims their respective music download sites have been deceitful and forced consumers to buy products because they are tied together.
French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir has launched legal action over the two companies' proprietary music formats, claiming that the respective DRM used by both Sony and Apple, which means songs bought from their online song shops can't be played on other manufacturers' media players, is limiting consumers' choice.
The consumer group announced it would be taking legal action against the pair after conducting interoperability tests last year between a selection of music download services and digital music players and criticising the lack of interoperable DRM.
"The total absence of interoperability between DRM removes not only the consumer's power to independently choose their purchase and where they buy it from, but also constitutes a significant restraint on the free circulation of creative works," the group said.
Despite railing against Microsoft's similar locked-down stance on interoperability during its compatibility testing and indicating that the company was in its legal sights, UFC-Que Choisir has not filed suit against the Redmond behemoth.
The suit has been filed against Sony France, Sony UK, Apple France and iTunes. Apple's case will be heard in a court of first instance in Paris and Sony's in Nanterre. Both cases are expected to be heard later this year.
Apple declined to comment. Sony did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This isn't the first time the issue of interoperability in music has made its way through the French legal system.
Recently, Virginmega, a subsidiary of Virgin, recently took brought a case against anti-competition case against Apple before the French Competition Council. The case was rejected late last year.
Comments
There are 18 comments. Join the discussion
1. James Clark
In the end though, free market forces will force the issue, not the courts. Sony really shot itself in the foot with it's terrible ATRAC3 system. It failed with minidisc, and was losing ground until it released MP3 supported HD3. There's a lot of choice out there, buy a player which gives you the options you want - and support download sites that doesn't use restrictive DRM. Simple.
2. Jeff Hewitt
The argument is specious to say the least. What tests? what were their methods? Did they publish their findings? Interoperability? Burn your downloaded track to a .wav cd and the DRM is gone.
3. anonymous
I guess they can't figure out that they could simply choose not to purchase from Sony or Apple. That seems like choice to me...
Neither company is being deceptive. User agreements are very well spelled out.
The French must have a problem downloading, burning to disc, and then saving to whatever format they want. Do they use defective computers?
4. anonymous
I shop Apple iTunes and Apple gives you great freedom with the music you buy. With all songs you can burn them to a regular audio CD, then you can rip MP3 files from there as you wish. And MP3 is compatible with nearly all portable players. So iTunes is technically not tied to the iPod alone.
However Apple's iTunes section is horrible in not informing the customer about possible portable player issues and how to circumvent them with the method I just described.
5. scottz
nobody is forcing them to use that service to download music. Could've used napster for instance.
this is going nowhere, fast
6. anonymous
leave it to the french...
you mean i cant take music off my cd's that weren't purchased at the iTunes store and load them on my iPod?
7. Simon
It stikes me that it's a valid complaint - imagine if (for example) Sony found a way of making it's CDs playable only on CD players it's licenced. There would be uproar !
An iPop user shouldn't be constrained to buy music online only from Apple - after all, what if the artist whose music you want is only sold on Sony's store ? (And vice-versa)
As to not including Microsoft - well lets face it, it's far easier to go after other and establish a precedent, then go after MS.
8. Dave
No matter what your view on Apple or Microsoft is, DRM does tie you in to a specific device. Apples 'FairPlay' system ties you in to the iPod (and to some extent Motorola) - plain and simple. Similarly, MS DRM ties you in to specific players, although there are more of them available.
Before this thread degenerates into another Fench-bashing, Jobs worshipping slander match, it would be nice to see someone point out that DRM is a crippling illness, aflicting the vast majority of music stores online.
I myself own a Squeezebox music player, Philips PSA player and a Pioneer MP3/WMA car stereo - as a result, I am unwilling to purchase anything from any online music store as I know it will not play on all of my devices. I therefore purchase a great many CD in an effort to still enjoy my music through the most convenient music player device I have encountered.
Music companies are not going to distribute without DRM - that's pretty much a given. What the world needs is a truly open DRM standard that allows ALL music stores and players to play music purchased online on any device. I had hoped that a 'visionary' company like Apple would provide this. Sadly, I am disappointed.
9. Dave
Since writing my initial response, I have seen various people saying things like "What's up with the French? Can't you download, butn as WAV and then re-rip?"
Seriously guys - what planet are you on? Do you really think this is a viable way to run a business? Name me one other market, outside of computing, that puts such onerous requirements on users to enjoy a product, free of the underlying technology.
Not to mention the fact that this steps dangerously close to breaking the wonderful DCMA rules and could land you in serious trouble with the music store you are fighting to protect.
10. Mark SPLINTER
copyright is being used by big businesses in their squabbles over market share and attempts to lock people into buying only from them.
copyright was supposed to encourage creativity, but it seems that idea was forgotten long ago.
soon all online music will be "DRM Free" because these companies aren't stupid, they know very well that people can figure out how to get round it, burning an audio cd, looping an audio cable, it's not hard. They are just hanging on for as long as possible.
It's so simple, it's a betamax thing.
11. John Hauxwell
Mark Splinter wrote in a previous post
"copyright is being used by big businesses in their squabbles over market share and attempts to lock people into buying only from them. "
No Copyright is being usd by all members of the value chain to ensure their piece of the revenue stream.
"copyright was supposed to encourage creativity, but it seems that idea was forgotten long ago."
Its supposed to PROTECT your material allwoing you to control who uses it and how, it doesnt encourage per se
"soon all online music will be "DRM Free" because these companies aren't stupid, they know very well that people can figure out how to get round it, burning an audio cd, looping an audio cable, it's not hard. They are just hanging on for as long as possible."
It wont ever be DRM free because lisc. agreements with artists labels and collection soceities will ALWAYS require royalities to be paid and for the content to be used legally.
"It's so simple, it's a betamax thing."
erm. that was format issue and it wasnt the best solutiion that won either.... DRM will become standardised ( probably around the OMA 2.0 standards) and it will be all pervasive from iTV to Mobile to PC as convergence contimues.
12. Malcolm Wilson
You might as well complain that your petrol-driven car doesn't work if you put diesel in it.
When you buy into a product the specifications are pretty well documented. I don't think that Sony and Apple are being 'deceitful'. That implies lying and as such is a somewhat over-stated accusation. It's probably a French thing...
13. Andy B
Anybody that buys an apple deserves what they get.
There are far superior players out there. Just take a look at the many formats Iriver supports.
14. anonymous
Just buy the CD, RIP and burn to anything.
ok, so its not high tech, but hey, with all the grief of DRM, backing up your DRM licences, blah blah blah.
Just buy the CD until the music providers realise that forcing DRM is flogging a dead horse.
15. spongyboy
Good Read: Old article but relevant.
http://daringfireball.net/2004/08/2004_wont_be_like_1984
16. spongyboy
"There are far superior players out there. Just take a look at the many formats Iriver supports."
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Have you looked at all the formats that iTunes/iPod supports? MP4(AAC), Protected AAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3, Apple Loss-less & iTunes can convert unprotected WMA Files to AAC.
17. Jan Duffy-King
Would you buy a CD that only played on 'namebrand' CD players. That is what is being asked.
18. Thomas
Download the tracks from iTunes. DRM? Yeah right. Burn said tracks as an audio CD. Import again, delete or backup originals. Hey presto, no DRM.
File away your backup CD, or use a CD-RW if you're tight..
Easy.