Philips Electronics said on Tuesday it was six months away from launching a system against illegal copying that will allow consumers to play digital video and music on any digital media player. Philips hopes the so-called digital rights management (DRM) system being developed by Intertrust, which it jointly owns with Sony, will replace a confusing array of proprietary systems. Digital music stores which have opened on the Internet this year use different DRM methods to protect songs against unlimited copying. But consumers can then only play the music on computers, CD and MP3 players which support the same DRM system. "Consumers want an open system, and the electronics industry wants it too," Ruud Peters, chief executive of Philipss intellectual property and standards unit, told Reuters.
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