Four Major Consumer Electronic vendors have recently set up the Marlin Joint Development Association to develop standard specifications for content management and protection. This move is also aimed at facilitating interoperability between DRM technologies. Participants include Matsushita, Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, Sony, as well as Intertrust, which develops digital rights management technologies.

The specifications reached in the association will allow makers to incorporate DRM functions into their consumer electronics devices, thereby achieving interoperability for any Marlin-encrypted content. The need for such a common platform has been reinforced by the fact that consumers often feel frustrated and confused by various DRM systems currently used in the market.

Other than working on the technology, the Marlin JDA has also conducted compliancy tests to ensure Marlin implementations are compatible with each other. It will provide a Licensing and Compliance Program and a Community Source Program, through which adopters will gain access to sample code modules and licenses for the specifications on a reasonable and non-discriminatory basis. The version 1.0 is slated for release in the summer of 2005.

Previously, a similar effort called Coral Consortium was launched. However, the Coral initiative was formulated to let different DRM programs work together while the Marlin JDA is to establish software as a standard for CE makers to adopt.