sony fined by french court for drm

Sony fined by French court for DRM music

(via Cedric Manara) A French court has ruled against Sony UK and Sony

France over the use of DRM. Manara writes in the Cyberlaw mailing

list:

A French court ruled against Sony France and Sony UK, in a case

brought by a consumer group. Sony UK operates the website CONNECT

Store, where French consumers can download music files in ATRAC 3

format. ATRAC 3 is a proprietary format, that can only be played on

SONY players. To the Court, Sony UK did not clearly inform the

consumers that these files cannot be played on other players. The

Court also found that Sony France did not provide clear information

to the consumers when selling its players without disclosing they

are not compatible with other files. The Court also ruled that Sony

UK's "tying practice" was contrary to the French Consumer code,

article L. 122-1. Pursuant to this article, it is illegal to make

the purchase of a service subject to the purchase of another

product. To the court, the consumers who download a file from

Connect are compelled to buy a Sony player if they want to play it.

I have not found this reported yet elsewhere, as the techie press

seems to be covering exclusively the anti-trust case against Apple. I

will be looking for more information when I come back from holidays.