Microsoft and DRM

In a move to prevent Microsoft from using its dominance in PC operating systems to control the burgeoning field of digital rights management (DRM), European regulators are considering blocking the company's acquisition of an influential DRM patent holder. EU Wants Windows Cleaned of DRM [Wired News]. The European Commission has launched an in-depth investigation into Microsoft's and Time Warner's acquisition of the digital rights management company ContentGuard.

The issue here in reality is not DRM, but rather the anticompetitive use of patents. Proprietary technologies and standards are OK, indeed beneficial -- witness VHS v. Beta, etc. -- and even firms with market power are permitted to benefit from the protections accorded by patent law. On the other hand, where a monopolist uses patent acquisition to foreclose entry, especially in "innovation" markets, antitrusters are naturally and properly worried.

Having said that, this is no different from Microsoft's historic patterns. The company has never invented anything, rather buys up technologies (like DOS, Internet Explorer, PowerPoint, etc.) and excels -- no pun intended -- at commercializing new ideas and integrating them into its dominant Windows operating system. Microsoft's Windows Media Player and proprietary A/V format are still losing in the battle with Real, QuickTIme and the protected AAC format used by Apple's iTunes Music Store. So instead of building a better mousetrap, Redmond buys one. (Whether it's better or not of course remains to be seen.) Par for the course.

 Posted by glenn