|
|
Friday, May 6, 2005
|
GSM Association rejects revised phone DRM rates
|
|
You are sending an email that contains the article
and a private message for your recipient(s). |
| Your Name: |
|
| Your e-mail: |
* Required! |
| Recipient (e-mail): |
* |
| Subject: |
* |
| Introductory Message: |
|
HTML/Text
(Photo: Yes/No) |
(At the moment, only Text is allowed...)
|
| |
|
| Message Text: |
Revised DRM licensing terms offered by the MPEG Licensing Authority remain
"unacceptable", the mobile phone networks' club said.
The GSM Association, which represents more than 660 networks which handle more than a
billion mobile phone users worldwide - said it had "met with dismay" the revised royalty
regime.
In January, the MPEG LA suggested to the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), which maintains
technology standards in the mobile phone world, a $1 per handset and one per cent of the
cost of each transaction royalty for the use of DRM technology patents it administers on
behalf of ContentGuard, Intertrust, Matsushita, Philips, Sony and others.
Last month, however, the GSMA went public with its view that such a model was
unworkable, calling the scheme "impractical, excessive and short-sighted". In short, network
operators believe it's too darn expensive.
In response, the MPEG-LA suggested an alternative: pay 65c for each DRM-enabled handset
and cap the per-user royalty at 25c a year. Since most DRM-protected downloads are likely
to cost several dollars a pop, each user needs only make one to two downloads a year to hit
the limit. Given the success of Apple's iTunes, punters are likely to download rather more
than two items a year.
The GSMA still thinks the cost is too high, and warned that, unless prices are cut, MPEG-LA
risks operators dashing off and acquiring a range of different DRM systems, making the
phone content download market as fragmented and as broadly incompatible as are digital
music downloads.
Full story available at www.theregister.co.uk. |
|
|
|
|