EU split over copyright law

Nick Antonovics

BRUSSELS: European Union partners are divided over the details of a key

copyright law aimed at protecting music, films and other works distributed

online, EU diplomats said on Wednesday.

The issue, which centers around whether governments should be able to prevent

rights owners from protecting their works using digital encryption techniques,

is the main obstacle blocking agreement by EU ministers at a meeting on

Thursday.

Failure to agree on a text would be a serious blow to EU credibility. EU

leaders committed themselves at a summit in Lisbon in March to adopt the

directive by the end of 2000 as part of an initiative to equip Europe for the

information age.

That goal was restated on Wednesday in a European Commission draft action

plan to implement the Lisbon "eEurope" initiative.

The diplomats said that differences over whether private individuals should

be able to make copies of digital works now threatened to scupper the deal.

Officials were working late to try and thrash out a compromise, but failure

would almost certainly mean the EU would not get the law onto its statute books

this year. The row has split the EU between countries–led by France, Spain and

Italy–which traditionally seek a high level of protection for authors' rights

and those that believe private individuals have a right to make copies for their

own use.

"It's gone from a debate about whether private copies should be allowed,

yes or no, to one about to what extent rights' holders use technical systems to

bloc copies," a diplomat said.

Messy compromise?



The IFPI, the main lobby for the 600,000 Europeans employed in the music
industry, said it feared a messy compromise that could damage a sector worth

Euro $14 billion.

As it stood, the directive would allow countries that take a more liberal

approach to private copying, such as Britain, to prevent rights holders from

encrypting their products.

"This would effectively partition the single market by mandating 15

different technologies according to the national definition of what private

copying is and how much may be permitted," IFPI said in a statement.

Senior EU officials admitted there was a problem, but hinted compromise would

be better than no agreement at all.

"I would always prefer a solution which respects the internal market for

all. If you can't achieve that, it's better to have a solution...which has as

limited a possible margin for changes," Enterprise Commissioner Erkki

Liikanen told a news conference.

A second related issue which remains to be resolved is to what extent rights

holders can claim compensation from makers of compact discs or other materials

which can store and record private copies of digital works.

Some EU states already impose levies on CD and video tape sales to compensate

rights holders and the directive does not seek to define at what level these

should be set.

Britain has angered some partners by seeking an exemption from such levies

for individuals seeking to record programs they plan to watch later–a concept

known as "time shifting".

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.