Petteri Pyyny
3 Oct 2004 14:54
After last few years filled with public outcry from consumer associations, end-users, in some instances from governments and obviously also from Philips (who is the patent and trademark owner of the CD), at least one major record label has woken up. Well, not quite, but at least Sony's Japanese music subdiary Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) has announced that it will stop using technical copy-protection mechanisms in audio CDs it sells in Japan.
From 17th of November, all Sony's audio CDs sold in Japan will be free of any technical copy protection mechanism. Sony's official line for the reasons behind the move is that now Japanese consumers have learned important issues about piracy and legality of music copying and also that now the country's legislation is tougher towards piracy than what it was when the copy protection mechanisms were introduced. But all the signs indicate that the real reasoning is simply that Sony doesn't want to anger its consumers -- at least not in its own home market..
Source: The Register