Industry Leaders Establish Digital Media Licensing Body To Accelerate Rich Content on Digital Media Devices

Beverly Hills, Calif., Feb. 2, 2004


  • Intel, mm02, Nokia, Panasonic*, RealNetworks, Inc., Samsung and Warner Bros. Studios today announced plans for a licensing and compliance framework called Content Management License Administrator (CMLA). This body was formed to address necessary business concerns and enable the rapid delivery of high-quality digital content to mobile handsets and other devices that deploy Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) Digital Rights Management version 2.0 specification.


  • CMLA creation coincides with the introduction of the OMA’s DRM version 2.0 interoperability specification developed and provided through the OMA. The OMA DRM 2.0 specifies an interoperable service enabler for Digital Rights Management (DRM), and is a major enhancement to the OMA DRM 1.0 specification.


  • The CMLA will address critical digital content delivery concerns by providing a licensing and compliance framework to provide the necessary encryption keys and certificates to licensed device manufacturers and service providers to enable interoperability between new devices and service. The CMLA will also facilitate open participation in the OMA DRM system by defining standard agreements among service and content providers and device makers.


  • The CMLA’s goal is to provide vendors and service providers clear processes and guidelines for robust and compliant OMA DRM Version 2.0 implementations making their product development cycles faster and easier. Ultimately, CMLA will assist in bringing consumers greater access to new and emerging digital content such as music, video clips, games etc.


  • The CMLA’s intent is to have agreements available for device makers, service providers and content participants in the first half of 2004 with a toolkit including encryption “keys” delivered by the end of 2004.


  • More information about CMLA is available at http://www.cm-la.com/.


* Panasonic is the brand by which Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC) is known worldwide.


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Quote Sheet


  • “Intel is pleased to participate in this effort to support the OMA’s DRM specification. A future of converged devices offering consumers high value content is good for content providers, service providers, device manufacturers and consumers. CMLA is committed to making sure this vision becomes reality as expeditiously as possible.” Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Intel Corporation.


  • Motorola believes the CMLA initiative, along with the Open Mobile Alliance, creates a cohesive ecosystem to securely manage and distribute digital content. With the CMLA, content providers have the secure framework they need to bring high value media to consumers and stimulate the mobile marketplace. Motorola is dedicated to driving the best mobile experiences to consumers and the CMLA initiative fosters that goal,” said Phil Gilchrist, Vice President of Global Standards, Motorola.


  • “The CMLA initiative, together with the Open Mobile Alliance's DRM 2.0 Enabler Release, addresses the burning market need for an open standard-based digital rights management platform the right way at the right time.” said Pertti Korhonen, senior vice president, Technology Platforms and CTO, Nokia. “Achieving cross-industry alignment on interoperability and implementation consistency issues is crucial to making innovative digital media services a reality. The common basis will considerably speed the multi-vendor introduction of interoperable media enabled products; from mobile devices and consumer electronics to PC media players. Nokia is truly excited to be part of CMLA community.”


  • "O2 is one of the first operators to offer music and video streaming and download services over the air in Europe. A working licensing and compliance framework for OMA 2.O DRM will help us broaden these services both in terms of supported handsets and available content." said Anders Wästerlid, VP Data Products Supply, mmO2.


  • "Panasonic has devoted itself to the development of a reliable DRM architecture because we know that it is essential to the success of digital consumer devices that will use high quality audio and video content," said Yoshiaki Kushiki, managing director of Matsushita Electric Industrial, Co. Ltd. "We are delighted to have the opportunity to contribute our technologies and expertise to help establish this new model for distributing high-value content to personal mobile devices, and in this way greatly enhancing users' entertainment options."


  • "As the provider of Helix DRM, the world's leading multi-format, standards based DRM, RealNetworks is pleased to help accelerate the creation, delivery and consumption of secure media to mobile devices," said Martin Plaehn, Executive Vice President, RealNetworks. "With the CMLA compliance framework and commercialized DRM technology, this community is signaling to rights holders that the time is now to embrace the delivery of their content to a ready world of mobile consumers."


  • Samsung is very pleased to be part of the CMLA initiative. The CMLA, which builds on the Open Mobile Alliance’s DRM 2.0 Enabler Release, provides a total solution for the safe distribution of ever increasing volume of high-value digital content on a wide variety of devices.”, said Byung Duck Cho, executive vice president, Telecommunication Network, Samsung Electronics. “The CMLA is to (OMA) DRM what a transmission is to an engine in a car. It finally brings true life to the DRM ecosystem."


  • "Vodafone is committed to enabling standards-based mobile DRM and has played a leading role in defining OMA DRM 2.0. Vodafone believe that OMA DRM 2.0 needs to be supplemented by a trust model and is therefore pleased to announce its intention to participate in the definition of CMLA’s compliance and licensing trust model framework", said Mike Walker, Group Research & Development Director at Vodafone.


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