A group of lawmakers from both houses of French Parliament approved today revisions to a bill that targets the use of digital rights management (DRM) technology among digital music payers and services in the country.

With 80 percent market share, Apple's iPod/iTunes juggernaut is in the crosshairs.

The move effectively softens a copyright law passed by the parliament's lower house in March. That law would have forced the iPod/iTunes juggernaut to open its proprietary DRM that prevents iPod users from downloading music from other paid download services and won't allow content downloaded from iTunes to play on anything but an iPod. It would have also applied to Apple rivals Microsoft and Sony, both of whom use their own proprietary DRM.

The compromised version, approved today by a committee of legislators from both houses, maintains a Senate loophole that could allow Apple and others to sidestep the mandatory interoperability by striking new deals with record labels and artists.

The revision essentially puts the control in the hands of the copyright holder, requiring the DRM users to obtain permission to use the DRM. It would establish a new regulatory body to order companies to license their exclusive file formats to rivals, as long as the restrictions imposed by the DRM are "additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders."

The compromise is subject to a final vote this month in the two legislative chambers, both controlled by the governing Union for a Popular Movement. Only the government can introduce further amendments.

Whether the changes go far enough for Apple, which had hinted at the possibility of vacating the French market altogether when the House passed the tougher version of the law in March, remains to be seen.

"We are awaiting the final result of France's legislative process, and hope they let the extremely competitive marketplace driven by customer choice decide which music players and online music stores are offered to consumers," the company said in a short statement after the vote.

The legislative tussle in France is just one of several government dustups in which Apple is entangled. Consumer agencies in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark have also accused Apple of violating contract and copyright laws.