Macrovision replies to Jobs' Thoughts on Music open letter

Copy-protection company strangely votes to promote copy-protection

18 February 2007 16:49 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It seems Steve Jobs' open letter on the Thoughts of Music is still getting people thinking and commentating.

Now Fred Amoroso, CEO and President, of copy protection company Macrovision has waded into the argument saying, wait for it, that "DRM increases not decreases consumer value" - basically the opposite to the Apple Boss' comments.

Apart from "thanking Steve Jobs for offering his provocative perspective on the role of digital rights management (DRM) in the electronic content marketplace and for bringing to the forefront an issue of great importance to both the industry and consumers".

Macrovision, who has been copy protecting video and DVDs since the early eighties in the letter says that while it "agree[s] … that there are difficult challenges associated with maintaining the controls of an interoperable DRM system, it should not stop the industry from pursuing it as a goal".

The company instead of suggesting to drop digital rights management suggests industry should create "A commitment to transparent, interoperable and reasonable DRM" that "will effectively bridge the gap between consumers and content owners, eliminate confusion and make it possible for new releases and premium content to enter the digital environment and kick off a new era of entertainment".

Not totally unexpected, the company even offers to lead the industry effort on DRM saying to Apple that it will offer "to assist Apple in the issues and problems with DRM that you state in your letter".

It goes on to say that "Should you desire, we would also assume responsibility for FairPlay as a part of our evolving DRM offering and enable it to interoperate across other DRMs, thus increasing consumer choice and driving commonality across devices".