Real Networks Forecasting Legal Issues Over Harmony

Harmony, a digital rights management translation system created by Real Networks which allows its own music formats to run on Apple iPods, may be the cause of some legal and technical issues for Real in the coming months.  The company has admitted that although they believe that their software is completely legal, any disagreement from Apple that runs into a court process might jeopardize their bottom line.  The company already expects to pay around $16 million in the coming year defending their software from litigation from Microsoft, but cannot afford any more.  Additionally, Real also expects problems as Apple makes moves to update its software in ways that would require tweaking of Harmony’s specifications.  Basically, it sounds like Harmony may represent Real biting off a bigger chunk than it can chew at this point.  Stay tuned to see how these impending challenges pan out.

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