Apple blasts French bill aimed at opening iPod + iTunes

In a statement republished by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) early Wednesday morning, Apple said the French move will result in "state-sponsored piracy" by encouraging French users to seek out illegally copied music.

"If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," Apple said in the statement. "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

A spokesman for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company reportedly declined to comment beyond the prepared statement.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, voted to approve the proposed law by a vote of 296-193. The legislation now has to be debated and voted by the Senate — a process expected to begin in May.

Analysts who provide coverage of Apple speculated on Tuesday that the company might simply abandon the French market with its music products rather than comply with a law that could prompt similar efforts by other governments.

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47 Comments

AppleInsider

said about 18 years ago

In its first public comment on the issue, Apple Computer blasted an effort by French lawmakers aimed at forcing the company to enable its iPods and iTunes Music Store to work with digital music products from other companies and vise versa.

In a statement republished by the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) early Wednesday morning, Apple said the French move will result in "state-sponsored piracy" by encouraging French users to seek out illegally copied music.

"If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," Apple said in the statement. "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

A spokesman for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company reportedly declined to comment beyond the prepared statement.

On Tuesday, lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, voted to approve the proposed law by a vote of 296-193. The legislation now has to be debated and voted by the Senate -- a process expected to begin in May.

Analysts who provide coverage of Apple speculated on Tuesday that the company might simply abandon the French market with its music products rather than comply with a law that could prompt similar efforts by other governments.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

amac4me

said about 18 years ago

I find the following from the Apple statement quite interesting:

"Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy."

As I read that, I was inclined to intrepret the statement to mean that Apple would oppose "free movies" on iPods. If that's the case, is this an indication that Apple is on the path of a movie download service and a Video iPod? Apple has not indicated if they will offer such a service, but the sentence from their statement could mean that the service is planned.

bergermeister

said about 18 years ago

Any reason for a double posting of the initial post?

It is interesting that Apple pointed out that they would likely make money thru iPod sales, but that the music download business (which unlikely makes them much money) would suffer.

Do the current downloads of US TV programs have DRM attached? I live in Japan where we only get the Pixar shorts; do they count TV shows as movies in this statement?

robin hood

said about 18 years ago

Steve Jobs has often said that the iTunes store merely "breaks even", and that the way they make money is by selling iPod's.

So in other words, Apple seems to be welcoming this move, in a twisted kind of way? Or what...

By the way, Apple does not currently operate an iTunes music store in France. They only operate one in Luxembourg, which isn't affected by French laws.

anders

said about 18 years ago

Apple needs to take a cold shower.

Yes I also see this law as the worng way to go. But just because Apple is a dominent player on the market for music download doesn´t mean they should dictate everything. The french government feels the right way to ensure the rights of its citizents the right to choice is by opening all DRM formats to all players, but still keep the restrictions wrt number of players, CDs and computers you can transfer your music to. Remember the same law makes it illegal/more expensive to remove DRM.

THis press release by Apple is an attempt to rally the music industry (and presumable the movie industry as well) behind them in the protection of a very lucrative market for Apple.