France’s lower house of parliament passed a law Tuesday that could challenge Apple Computer Inc.’s dominance of the online digital music market by making it open its iTunes store to portable music players other than Apple iPods.
French officials said the law is aimed at preventing any single media-playing operating system, such as Apple’s iTunes or Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Media Player, from building a grip on the digital online music retail market.
“These clauses, which we hope will be taken up by other countries, notably at the European level, should prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the supply of online culture,” Richard Cazenave and Bernard Carayon, National Assembly deputies from the ruling UMP party, said in a statement on Tuesday.
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