EE Times: What's the big problem in digital media today?
Leonardo Chiariglione: I still remember someone saying in a meeting several years ago that there is a company providing free access to thousands of MP3 songs using something called peer-to-peer technology. I said, "This is not the way things should happen."

If somebody has created a song, and has put [into it] all his spirit, all his technical ability, and sees people are simply taking away his creation without even saying thanks, this is not the way the world should be. The industry collectively must recognize that we have to solve the problem correctly. If not, digital technologies are in fact destroyers of creativity.

If we are able to preserve the openness of content, but at the same time not preserve the ability to compensate those who create and invest, then I think I am right to say that this has been a collective failure.

EET: What's the solution?
Chiariglione: The simple solution is to create a magic conversion box between digital rights management A and DRM B. The fact is that the problem of creating conversion boxes has been around since day one. I don't know of a single example where this has been successfully applied to a mass market. So for me, there is no guarantee that magic DRM conversion box is technically feasible [or] will ever happen in the marketplace. No one wants to give the key to one's business to somebody else.

EET: Then, what should the industry do?
Chiariglione: There should be a single DRM solution. If it's Microsoft's, fine. I have no issue whatsoever. But my preference is to have a standard that is open, that is even implementable in some sort of open-source software whose evolution is in the hands of the industry, like MPEG. In fact, MPEG created a standard, but the evolution of that standard is in the hands of the industry, not of one or two or three major players.

EET: Is that what you are trying to achieve in the Digital Media Project (DMP)?
Chiariglione: Yes. In less than a year, we have been able to produce the first specifications for devices which are portable. This uses a standard DRM solution that's interoperable. The specification was approved in April. Everybody can go to the Web site and download, because it's freely available.

I've been in this business long enough to understand that if you have a technical solution, this is only half of the solution. You need some licensing scheme that is available. Nobody is going to invest in using the standard without licenses. We will have patent pool administrators take on the challenge of making a patent pool for DMP-standard technologies.

We are on track for the next phase of DMP specifications, which will be about IP [Internet Protocol] TV and digital set-top boxes that would be available in the open market. They employ the standard DRM. It is not a DRM that says you have to use this or that encryption scheme. It's more like a framework that's still interoperable, where people can exchange content. This is planned to be achieved in February, next year.

EET: Isn't this coming to the market a bit late?
Chiariglione: It would have been late if there had been a single prevailing DRM solution. But this is not happening. Therefore, the DMP proposal of an open standard, in the hands of the industry, with hopefully very soon a licensing scheme, is [still] a very attractive proposition. An open standard is certainly the way to go, the preferable way to go for many people.

EET: You have worked on many standards efforts. What are the secrets to success?
Chiariglione: There is not a single recipe. But first, you must share a spirit. Second, in all of the initiatives, you have different agendas, but you must find a minimum common denominator that is supported by all participants. Third, you must address the right area, at the right time. And in spite of your question before, I believe DMP is satisfying all the conditions.

EET: You have been the convener of the Moving Picture Experts Group since 1988. What made the MPEG effort succeed?
Chiariglione: Because the business proposition was right. At that time, the MPEG constituency was basically consumer electronics, telecommunication and IT companies [with a need for] some standard silicon for high-quality picture and audio. By having the MPEG standard, these companies could concentrate on making products and applications, instead of thinking of making silicon, which is what C-Cube, Thomson and all these companies eventually did.

MPEG provided an easy way to get cheap digital video and audio technology. In the early '90s, those things were still very expensive.

EET: What's your view of the battles between proprietary and standard technologies?
Chiariglione: Look at what MPEG enabled with MP3, for example. You have millions of players, hardware and software, and billions of songs. That is money for everybody, because the market becomes big.

Now, very often, you have newcomers coming with a different mind, who say, why should I share my business with my competitor?
I want to have my proprietary technology in order to serve my constituency so no one can take customers away from me. By doing that, they may get what they want, but they remain in a very small island instead of having an entire continent.

I'd rather have 5 percent of a $1 billion market than 95 percent of a $1 million market.

People in companies should hang this sentence at every corner, because it's a reminder that by creating big markets, there is money for everybody.