During an interview on the CNBC network, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez praised Apple for speaking out against the proposed French law that could force companies to open their DRM protection technologies. According to The Age, he said "I would compliment that company because we need for companies to also stand up for their intellectual property rights."

Mr. Guiterrez commented that any time we feel intellectual property rights are being violated, it is necessary to speak out. He also said if the U.S. government works with other governments and companies that are protecting their intellectual properties, more worldwide progress will be made.

Apple's stance is that the French bill will promote music and video piracy and drive legitimate sales down.

Supporters of the bill disagree. They feel the bill will offer better protection for musicians and other artists rights when their work is sold as electronic downloads. They also say that consumers will have more choices in how they use their music and videos since the law will let them play the content on any portable digital player.

The end result, however, is likely to be very different, according to some analysts. They speculate that Apple will shut down the French iTunes Music Store instead of opening its FairPlay digital rights management software to competitors, reducing the number of music and video download options available to French consumers.