p2pnet.net News:- By refusing to licence its iTunes FairPlay customer-control DRM technology, Apple is guilty of anti-competitive behaviour, says VirginMega, the Virgin Group’s French online music joint venture with media company Lagardère.

Apple and RealNetworks are hacking away at each other out through Harmony, a Hymn look-alike launched by Real which, it say, "creates a way to lock content from Real’s Music Store in a way that is compatible with the iPod, Windows Media digital rights management [DRM] devices and Helix DRM devices".

But VirginMega has, "formally asked France’s competition watchdog to rule that the iPod maker has abused its dominant market position by not allowing other companies access to FairPlay," says The Register here, going on:

"VirginMega uses Windows’ audio and DRM technology - it’s supplied by OD2/Loudeye - which isn’t supported by the iPod. Since Apple won’t build WMA compatibility into the iPod, Virgin wants Apple to license FairPlay so it can incorporate the technology into the tracks it sells, making the iPod-compatible."

A hearing to consider VirginMega’s demands is expected to be convened in October or November, says The Register.

In the meanwhile, the line forms on the right, babe …

This entry was posted on Friday, August 6th, 2004 at 9:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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