French Copyright Bill

Delegates to France's Assemblee Nationale voted 286 in favor, 193 against a bill that could drive a wedge between Apple Computer's iTunes and iPod music players in France.

Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) said non to the measure quickly and loudly. The proposed law, it said, would result in "state-sponsored piracy."

Apple pointed to recent progress in popularizing legal downloads, a trend which could be dashed if iPod users could freely load their mini-jukeboxes with interoperable music files. "Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy," the company warned.

The bill is now set to go before the upper house of the French parliament for final approval. If it gets put in the statute books, the law could force Apple, Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and others to share their exclusive copy-protection technologies with rivals.

The question on everyone's lips is what will Apple do if this "state-sponsored piracy" does become law. Will it comply, or withdraw from the French online music market altogether? For now the Cupertino, Calif-based firm led by Steve Jobs is refusing to entertain speculation on the issue.

The French government has said it is targeting "absolutely no one" with the bill, but analysts say Apple is the company with the most to lose. It seems that a phenomenal penetration of the any market is great for the bottom line, but it does get the likes of regulators and some government administrators rather worked up.