France’s copyright overhaul under pressure

France’s Constitutional Court has ruled that certain sections of the country’s controversial new copyright law are unconstitutional.

The principle effect of the court’s 12-page legal review is to ensure that Apple will receive monetary compensation if it is forced to licence the DRM technology that it uses to restrict playback of iTunes Music Store downloads to its iTunes software and range of iPod portable music players.

However, the court did agree that the iPod-iTunes axis violates constitutional property protections. Apple will still be obliged to license the FairPlay DRM, albeit with financial recompense.

It is not clear how this fits with the ‘loophole’ in the law that allows Apple to avoid having to disclose FairPlay provided it has the approval of the record labels and right bodies that license the music it sells through iTunes.

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