Thomson Joins Microsoft DRM Push

French technology and electronics company Thomson has joined Microsoft and Time Warner in the buyout of digital rights management provider ContentGuard from parent Xerox.

ContentGuard offers technology to prevent copying of protected files and has created eXtensible rights Markup Language (XrML), which it is pushing for industry adoption.

Thomson will take a 33 percent voting stake in the company and join Microsoft in its push for an industry standard DRM solution. With media giant Time Warner already on board to encourage content owners, the addition of Thomson -- a leading European electronics manufacturer -- closes the circle of Microsoft's DRM ecosystem.

"The development of web services and new content distribution systems requires a complete ecosystem of participants. Thomson's investment alongside Time Warner and Microsoft shows that media, software, devices and services companies are committed to developing the infrastructure for web services to flourish," said Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect.

Microsoft and Time Warner are currently awaiting approval from the European Commission regarding their stakes in ContentGuard. Although the deal was initially met with numerous objections, backing from Thomson is likely to ease any EU concerns.