BCWaiting said:
I believe that law only applies to the day-to-day operations and communications of that satellite office.
For example, if a major manufacturer in the US has a small sales office in Quebec, you can't tell me their entire .com web site is subject to French localization.
I researched this pretty extensively a few months ago. IF a company does business with the Quebec public, AND it has operations (even a small sales office) in Quebec, then Quebec law in general and language law in particular applies to it, including its website (which, for the purposes of the law, is considered the same as handing out a paper leaflet). So, yes, that US manufacturer either has to localize its whole site, or put up a pared-down site just for Quebec.
<http://www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/english/infoguides/faqs/faqs_anglais.html#frequently> lays it out pretty clearly.
As far as French music content, Quebec already has the Archambault service which provides downloads for French language content.
The language law applies to sales/promotional materials, not creative content. An online music store based in Quebec could offer nothing but Japanese music without running afoul of the law, as long as its interface and promo materials were in French.
Also Canadian consumer labeling laws state that any product that, by its nature, requires the user to understand English in order to benefit from the product, i.e. an English CD jacket or book.... does not require bilingual labelling. One could argue that only the part of the site that would offer French music would be required, by Canadian law anyway, to be bilingual.
Interesting point about the CD jacket. The question then becomes whether, for the purposes of Quebec language law, the liner notes count as promotional material (vs. creative content). That's a tough one...but seeing as in Quebec you can sell a physical CD with liner notes in whatever language you please, you'd hope the same would apply online.
For the purposes of Canadian law, I'd be very surprised if anything made a bilingual iTMS a legal necessity.
A quick check of Canada411.com says Apple has no office in Quebec, so when the store does launch if there's any French it's probably there for one of two reasons: as a courtesy to the Francophone market segment, or as a way to make it possible to have a bricks-and-mortar store in Montreal without having to worry about the iTMS later.
