French Council: Individuals Can’t Bypass DRM

The French Constitutional Council has raised concerns and removed some key measures from the long awaited copyright bill, which was adopted by France’s two houses of Parliament June 30.

The Council, which is responsible for ensuring that legislative proposals comply with the national constitution before they are incorporated into law, has removed from the bill the clause that grants individuals and companies the right to bypass digital rights management (DRM), even if bypassing DRM would facilitate the interoperability of digital music technology systems, which the bill intends to promote.

It argued that legislating for such a measure would require a more precise definition of the concept of interoperability of different DRM technologies.

However, the Council agreed there is a need for an independent body that regulates DRM issues.