Radio stations must pay for Net broadcasts: US office

NEW YORK: The United States Copyright Office will publish a ruling on Monday that radio stations that make their broadcasts available on the Internet must pay fees to record companies, the New York Times reported.

The ruling does not specify how much the fees should be and when the stations must start paying, the paper said. But it said the ruling helps clarify a years-old dispute of whether federally licensed radio stations that put programming on the Internet are subject to the same performance rights fees as Internet-only radio stations.

Internet copyright has become a major issue, highlighted by song-swap service Napster Inc.'s legal battle with major record labels.

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