A handful of French senators and members of the National Assembly on Thursday agreed to tone down some of the provisions within a draft copyright law that left the future of Apple Computer’s iPod music player and iTunes Music Store uncertain in the country, the Associated Press reports via the HoustonChronicle.com.The modified law doesn’t include some of the non-iPod-friendly provisions included within an earlier version of the text that was passed by the country’s lower house, according to the AP.The French National Assembly expressed support for some of the controversial provisions in March that would have required Apple and other producers of digital music players to open up their copy-protection technologies to other companies looking to develop products or services that work in conjunction with iPods or iTunes, the AP reports.The new text still says that Apple, and companies like it, should share copy-protection technologies to foster “interoperability,” but it also contains a loophole that would enable companies to acquire permission from copyright holders—artists or record labels in Apple’s case—in order to set compatibility restrictions, according to the AP. The amended text is to be presented to both French houses for a vote before it can become law, the AP reports.Christian Vanneste, the governing party deputy who introduced the text to the Assembly, told the AP, “It’s perfectly legitimate that the artist should decide the potential limitations on the use of his work.” As part of the proposed law, a new government body would have the authority to resolve issues related to interoperability by ordering firms to allow rivals to employ their file formats, though their intervention must be “in addition to, or independent of, those [restrictions] explicitly decided by the copyright holders,” according to the AP.Related Links: EC Regulators Won’t Force Interoperable iTunes Apple’s iTunes to Offer Movies for Download?Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content feature Expedia poised to take flight with generative AI CTO Rathi Murthy sees the online travel service’s vast troves of data and AI expertise fueling a two-pronged transformation strategy aimed at growing the company by bringing more of the travel industry online. By Paula Rooney Jun 02, 2023 7 mins Travel and Hospitality Industry Digital Transformation Artificial Intelligence case study Deoleo doubles down on sustainability through digital transformation The Spanish multinational olive oil processing company is immersed in a digital transformation journey to achieve operational efficiency and contribute to the company's sustainability strategy. By Nuria Cordon Jun 02, 2023 6 mins CIO Supply Chain Digital Transformation brandpost Resilient data backup and recovery is critical to enterprise success As global data volumes rise, business must prioritize their resiliency strategies. By Neal Weinberg Jun 01, 2023 4 mins Security brandpost Democratizing HPC with multicloud to accelerate engineering innovations Cloud for HPC is facilitating broader access to high performance computing and accelerating innovations and opportunities for all types of organizations. By Tanya O'Hara Jun 01, 2023 6 mins Multi Cloud Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe