Norway's fight to get Apple to open the digital rights management in songs purchased from the iTunes Store has two new players now that German and French consumer groups have voiced support, too, according to Forbes. The group of countries working to get Apple to open the iTunes Store to competing music players already included Sweden and Denmark.

Norway's Consumer Ombudsman, Bjoern Erik Thon, commented "This is important because Germany and France are European giants. Germany, in particular, is a big market for digital music."

The Scandinavian consumer agencies contend that Apple is violating local laws with the terms and conditions for buying songs and other content at the iTunes Store since downloaded tracks are encoded only for the iPod. Norway, Sweden, and Denmark gave Apple until August 1, 2006 to reply to the complaints.

In a public statement, Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr commented "Apple is aware of the concerns we've heard from several agencies in Europe and we're looking forward to resolving these issues as quickly as possible. Apple hopes that European governments will encourage a competitive environment that lets innovation thrive, protects intellectual property and allows consumers to decide which products are successful."

While European countries are considering how to force Apple to open its DRM to competitors, the music industry is reconsidering its stance on copy protection. At the Midem music trade fare in Cannes, France, word surfaced that at least one of the four big recording labels is considering releasing songs in an unrestricted MP3 format in the coming months, and that the other labels are also toying with the idea.

Such a move would mark a major shift for the music industry, which has historically been a strong proponent of copy protection. The change would also put Apple and other legitimate music download services in a position where they would likely have to change their terms and conditions for purchased songs. In the end, it may be the recording industry and not governments that changes music copy protection policies.