Crippled CD Deemed Defective In France

Noryungi writes "The daily newspaper Liberation reports that at least one person got her money back, by suing EMI, no less. She was able to do that with the help of the largest consumer organization in France, which has its own list of articles on this subject. So, French people who cannot read their copy-protected CDs can get their money back, but copy protection is not made illegal by the court decision... It's certainly a step in the right direction, though..." For the French-impaired, an anonymous reader adds "The Register has a good article on EMI being forced to refund the cost of a copy-protected CD, because it was found to have a 'hidden defect' -- it wouldn't work on a car's CD player ... Is the tide changing?"

Comments

Rimshot

[Anonymous Coward]

EMI surrenders to France?!

Re:Rimshot

[Zeinfeld]

EMI surrenders to France?!

I find it somewhat bizare that EMI would even littigate the case. The product was clearly defective as manufactured and so under EU law the consumer has an absolute right to a full refund. No pissy-US '90 day' guarantees here. If you sell something that is broke the consumer gets a refund, period.

As for the wider political context, don't forget what the French Ambassador to the UN said on the subject of Iraq, basically that France belives it is not opposing US interests, just that it believes it has a better idea of what those interests are. The US came to regret not taking French advice in Vietnam and according to Paris will come to regret not taking their advice on the subject of invading Iraq.

From this we can deduce two things, first that the French can be insufferably arrogant for such a small country whose military success under Napoleon turned out to be what the music industry would call a 'one hit wonder', being followed by flop after flop. The only recent successes being in the consolation prize category of 'quickest surrender'. And no Jaques, the magnificent conquest of the Sahara desert does not qualify a country as an empire. The test of an empire is not merely the acreage under occupation, the locals have to actually be at least aware of the occupation.

The other thing we may deduce is that despite the fact they are frequently arrogant and obnoxious the French are frequently right, particularly when it comes to the 'stop the US from pig-headed self defeating policy blunder' category.

Clear Labeling of CDs..

[FileNotFound]

There is an Act that if passed will require clear lables on all copy protected CDs. From EFF:

Senator Ron Wyden recently introduced the Digital Consumer Right-to-Know Act (DCRKA), a bill that would require entertainment companies to label products with copy-protections that limit consumer use. Support the DCRKA if you think the content industry should be ordered to clearly label media that restricts your rights!

http://action.eff.org/action/index.asp?step=2&it em =2664

Re:Clear Labeling of CDs..

[jsfetzik]

Check out the list at Fat Chuck's

If it's defective - isn't a recall in order?

[machinecraig]

Seems like they've proved that EMI made defective disks, shouldn't a recall be necessary?

EMI response

[MCS]

I actually e-mailed EMI about the copy protection on the new Jane's addiction CD. Here is the reply I have recieved:

"We are in receipt of your email and regret you have experienced a problem with one of our products.

The technology we are using is designed to ensure that the disc plays on multiple devices. There have been playability problems with a very small number of players, but the vast majority of these problems have been fixable by our technology suppliers as they are constantly updating and improving the technology that is included in the copy controlled discs.

As long as consumers alert us to the problem we will endeavor to adapt the copy control technology.

Please forward your address as we search for a replacement from another territory. Thank you.

Regards,

Emi Music Canada
Quality Control Dept
1 (866) 553-0220"

Insensitive Headline

[Anonymous Coward]

Should read:

Differently-Abled CD Deemed Special In France

this isn't the first time

[bodrell]

I knew this article seemed familiar . . . At the end of June, there was another article about a consumer in Brazil who sued for the same reason. And won. In contrast to this French case, the guy won about $340. Whether that is in addition to legal fees, I don't know. The original Brazilian article referenced is here.

Interestingly, the Brazilian CD which was defective (Tribalistas, featuring Marisa Monte, Arnaldo Antunes, and Carlinhos Brown) was not copy-protected in the US (I was worried after reading this article, but I bought a copy and had no problems reading it on my Mac).