Sony believes that this would result in “complete chaos” because it fails to fully standardise copyright regulations in member states and may lead to incomplete protection of copyright holders’ rights.
The EU proposals to introduce a copyright directive were agreed on by member states last month with a view to promoting and facilitating the exchange of information over new media.
However, the proposed directive appears to leave national governments some powers to adapt the rules to suit national needs and Sony takes the view that this scope for derogation may result in varying rules in different member states.
It condemned the directive when its chairman, Paul Russell, commented “it’s complete nonsense, it’s totally impractical and I can’t imagine a faster way to slow down the use of the internet by the music industry”.
The problems associated with copyright enforcement on the internet remain pressing issues as highlighted by the on-going Napster case in the US.
The exploitation of MP3 files, which can compress an audio file 12 times over without significantly jeopardising its quality, has allowed rapid copying and exchange of music over the internet.
Sony believes that alternatives to the EU directive may be more effective in combating piracy. It is currently looking into the possibility of encryption technology that would allow users to download music only after they had paid for a key to decode it.
It is also considering introducing measures to prevent unauthorised CD copying which it hopes to have in place in the near future.