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March 24, 2006
US government supports Apple stand on French law
In what's shaping up to be the biggest Franco-American battle since US lawmakers renamed their favorite side dish "Freedom Fries," the US government has now declared its support for Apple in the company's dispute with France over DRM interoperability. US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, questioned about the case on CNBC, declared that he would "compliment [Apple] because we need for companies to also stand up for their intellectual property rights.
At issue is a draft law that would
require Apple and other companies to open up their DRM to competitors or allow consumers to do so on their own, so that
music purchased in an online music store could be played in any manufacturer's digital audio player. Earlier this week, Apple referred to
the French bill as part of a "state-sponsored culture of piracy." While Guiterrez didn't say whether
the US government would do anything specific on Apple's behalf, he did say that it's a good policy to "have the
government work with other governments." We assume this will continue to escalate, and it'll only be a matter of
days before French students start burning iPods in the streets and Americans retaliate by torching Archos Gminis. And
it looks like the cafeteria in Cupertino will have to start serving iToast for breakfast.
Originally posted by Evan Blass from Engadget, ReBlogged by cat on Mar 24, 2006 at 09:37 AM