Real, Microsoft Face Off on Copyright Standard

Envision a future of video on demand, music, and other copyrighted materials securely being downloaded from the Internet - without the threat of piracy. Impossible? RealNetworks doesn't think so, and plans to announce Wednesday at Streaming Media West a new digital copyright technology dubbed extensible media commerce language. XMCL will serve as a Web standard for copyright protection, and work in conjunction with future digital rights management software. The company is also expected to introduce the RealSystem Media Commerce Suite, the first of such software to utilize the XMCL specification.

Back by industry giants Bertelsmann, IBM, and Sony, RealNetworks intends to explore all avenues the technology can traverse. Real Chief Operating Officer Larry Jacobson, told the Associated Press Wednesday, "Eventually, RealNetworks hopes the technology will be go beyond computers to television and virtually any other type of digital media. The potential for these initiatives are just so enormous."

Support for the technology will soon be put to the test, as several other companies already endorse an opposing standard. Hewlett-Packard, Adobe, and Microsoft have reached an agreement on XRML, or extensible rights markup language. Microsoft has been including XRML support in its Windows Media Player software, requesting a flat usage fee from companies. Real will take a slightly different approach and instead ask for a percentage of each transaction.

Two corporate rivals each promoting separate standards may prove to be the bane of a secure media platform. Adding confusion over different technoligies will only complicate things for consumers, who have already demonstrated hesitation to accepting added restrictions. Real disputes Microsoft's claim it was never invited to join the XMCL initiative, stating repeated requests fell on deaf ears.