“US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez backed angry protests by Apple Computer over a new French law that would throw open Apple’s popular online music store to competitors,” Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. “Speaking on the CNBC network, Gutierrez said he needed to make further study of the copyright law passed by the French parliament’s lower house this week. ‘But any time something like this happens, any time that we believe that intellectual property rights are being violated, we need to speak up and in this case, the company is taking the initiative,’ he said. ‘I would compliment that company because we need for companies to also stand up for their intellectual property rights,’ Gutierrez said. ‘If we all do that, have the government work with other governments, have companies defend and protect their own intellectual property, then we’ll be able to make more progress on a worldwide basis.'”
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Will Apple’s Steve Jobs bid France adieu? – March 22, 2006
Apple calls proposed French DRM law ‘state-sponsored piracy,’ predicts iPod sales increase – March 21, 2006
French National Assembly approves digital copyright bill; could affect Apple’s FairPlay DRM – March 21, 2006
Clueless vs. arrogant
Ah yes, but to quote, there are three types of people in this world:
1) Those who know and who know they know,
2) Those who don’t know but know they don’t know,
and
3) Those who don’t know but think they do.
Of them, #3 is the worst of all.
In my experience while arrogant doesn’t generally imply clueless, it seems clueless does imply arrogance.
Thankfully, pride cometh before the fall
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA! I might be dreaming… but did a French person just criticize another country for being ARROGANT? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
You are dreaming.
For those really interested in the subject, one of the sponsors of the admendment for interoperability explains (in bad, but acceptable English) what were his motivations :
http://tinyurl.com/owwdv
In some interpretations, it would seem that they tried to satisfy everybody, and failed, pissing everybody instead. They would give the consumer more rights on the music he paid, which is not what the majors wanted, punished those who download illegally, which makes the majors happy, and prohibit P2P software, one of the majors wet dreams, which makes them (the majors) absolutely delirious with joy (in fact, P2P software isn’t illegal, nor prohibited, but some people interpret the law that way).
I forgot to say : skip the first 2 paragraphs in French on that web page…
“sd, Americans are more clueless than arrogant. Learn the difference.
You arrogant clueless dumbass.”
-“Vince Vaughn”
NO IM NOT.
What’s wrong with this toenail?
Hahaha- nasty.
Poppyvock-
The article says that Gutierrez backed angry protests by Apple Computer.
He says that he needs more time to study the law, but has already taken sides. I don’t know the gentleman, but does he generally come to a conclusion before getting all the facts ?
I’m not knocking him, I back Apple’s DRM position ( but I don’t necessarily support Apple’s protest, as I don’t yet know how the law will affect Apple ), but I haven’t got a considered opinion of that law because it hasn’t been finalised.
My point remains that until the law is finalised and the details properly defined and tested, I can’t see how any of us can be certain what the implications can be for Apple or anybody else.
As for the disclosure of IP to rivals, I’ve seen reports confirming it and others denying it. So until it’s finalised, it seems open to interpretation.
I think that we can all agree that for the moment it’s a confusing mess.