The company faces investigation in Scandinavia over its
iTunes-iPod tie-in but the addition of consumer groups in two of
Europe's biggest markets, France and Germany, to the action could
cause it serious trouble in Europe.
The action alleges that Apple's business practices break
contract law and are anti-competitive. Music bought from Apple's
iTunes service tracks can only be played by PCs or iPods but not
other digital music players. It is this 'lock-in' that is the
subject of consumer group protests.
"This is important because Germany and France are European
giants," Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman Bjoern Erik Thon told news
agency Associated Press. "Germany, in particular, is a big market
for digital music."
"Apple hopes that European governments will encourage a
competitive environment that lets innovation thrive, protects
intellectual property and allows consumers to decide which products
are successful," said an Apple spokesperson regarding the
actions.
France had previously passed a law which threatened to undermine
Apple's lock-in. It mandated suppliers of music to make their
digital rights management (DRM) code available to other vendors,
but though passed by both of France's houses of parliament it was
ruled unconstitutional by its Constitutional Council.
France was a battleground over the issue once before. In 2004
its Competition Council was asked to rule on whether or not Apple's
refusal to licence its DRM code to other vendors was
anti-competitive.
The Competition Council said that it did not break French law
because the technology was not necessary in order to operate a
digital download service.
The news of France and Germany's support for the Nordic action
came as record industry executives admitted to reporters that the
major labels may be prepared to perform a U-turn on using DRM
technology to control downloaded files.
At the annual Midem music industry conference in Cannes
executives told of a weakened resolve to stick with DRM, which
remains controversial with users and is opposed by many who believe
it imposes new and restrictive conditions on consumers.
A number of DRM-free pilots are emerging. EMI will offer free
streamed music in China on the market leading Baidu search engine.
China is one of the markets worst hit by music piracy.
Yahoo! is said to be about to continue experiments begun last
year in offering DRM-free tunes. Sony BMG and EMI both agreed to
have artists such as Norah Jones and Jessica Simpson provide music
for the tests, a Yahoo! executive told the conference.
