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By Sally Watson, 14 October 1998 00:30

NEWS The US House of Representatives has passed legislation to bring US Net copyright laws into line with the UK and Europe. The controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed by the Senate last week and will now go to President Bill Clinton to be signed into law. The legislation makes it illegal to create or sell technology designed to break copyright protection devices like firewalls, digital watermarks or encryption. Anyone who breaks the law could be fined up to $2,500 for every violation. However, Mark O'Conor, lawyer at London firm Bird & Bird, said Europe is already ahead of the game on the issue. "The UK Copyright and Patents Act 1988 already contains this law - section 296 says devices designed to circumvent copyright protection are illegal," he said. Powerful companies within the US music, film and publishing markets have been pressurising the US government to bring in better online protection. They argue that the number of copyright violations on the Web is currently discouraging ecommerce. But academics and developers opposed the legislation, arguing that it would allow companies to build 'digital toll gates' around their content. To placate these groups, the Act allows copyright protection devices to be broken in the interests of research, or to test computer security and interoperability. Bird & Bird's O'Conor added that the US seems to be "jumping up and down" to create new laws for the Internet when Europe - and in particular the UK - is happy to apply old copyright laws to the new medium. "There needs to be a simple mechanism for rights," he said. "Of course musicians and writers should be protected, but if you nail everything down you will stifle the industry. A huge pinch of common sense is important when interpreting these laws." The Digital Millennium Copyright Law also includes a provision forcing Webcasters - in particular Net radio stations - to pay license fees to record companies. But it avoided the difficult issue of database copyright - a separate bill on this is expected next year.