The New York Times, December 21, 1996, pp. 1, 38. Global Agreement Reached To Widen Law On Copyright Computer Data Covered. 2 Treaties Extend Protection to Creative Works That Are Distributed on Internet By Seth Schiesel Negotiators from some 160 countries reached agreement in Geneva yesterday on the most sweeping extension of international copyright law in 25 years, the chief United States representative said, paving the way to broaden protections for the creators of art, software and music into cyberspace. Supporters of the two new treaties, which must be ratified by the United States Senate and other lawmakers around the world before they can go into effect, say the changes will encourage record companies, computer programmers, and -- farther down the road -- even television and movie studios to distribute their wares over the Internet. A contentious third proposal, which would have extended copyright protection to computerized data bases that provide sports scores, telephone listings and the like, was abandoned because of objections from other countries. The United States delegation gave in on that issue to make the agreement possible. In an 11th-hour deal, telephone companies, Internet access providers and free speech advocates persuaded negotiators to delete wording that would have treated even temporary computer copies automatically created to view graphics and other information from the Internet as possible violations of international copyright law. "These treaties we've been working on will be the cornerstone of international economic law for the information and technological age of the 21st century," Bruce Lehman, the Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks and the lead American negotiator said at a news conference in Geneva. Negotiators reached the deal late last night after three weeks of talks under the auspices of the World Intellectual Property Organization, a United Nations body. To make original works easily and widely available, the treaties are aimed at balancing the interests of writers, artists and other creators of copyright material against those of users and distributors of digital information. Once ratified, the two treaties -- one covering literary and artistic works including films and computer software, the other covering recorded music -- would grant copyright owners protection for distributing their work in digital form. As strong as United States law may be, the global nature of the Internet has given some companies pause. "This treaty would for the first time create international recognition of rights already in U.S. law," Mr. Lehman said in a telephone interview. "If instead of going down to Egghead or Blockbuster to buy a piece of software or rent a movie, you want to download it to the computer, that's not covered" under today's international treaties, he said. "If you're a big content provider and you're planning a big marketing strategy to distribute product on the Internet, you're not going to do it if there's no law. Now there will be." The United States, worried that American music, movie and software producers could be harmed because digital information can be so easily duplicated and distributed around the world, led the campaign for tightening international copyright laws. Mark Traphagen, vice president and counsel for the Software Publishers Association, said piracy costs the United States software industry $13 billion each year in lost revenue. "From the incidents we've seen, Internet piracy can really have a devastating effect on a company, because so many copies can be downloaded for nothing," Mr. Traphagen said. "That's why this treaty is so important. We want to make sure that all these countries building information infrastructures are on board for protecting software." The Recording Industry Association of America estimates that illegal copying costs the $40 billion American music industry as much s as $2 billion each year in lost revenues. While little of that piracy now occurs on the Internet, Hilary B. Rosen, the association's president, welcomed the agreement an important bulwark against future threats. "I think it's a very good deal for American music lovers and Internet users and it's a very good deal for artists and record companies," Ms. Rosen said. "When copyrights are strengthened, the U.S. really benefits because we are the largest exporter of music. We're completely satisfied." To reach the deal, experts said, the Clinton Administration was forced to retreat from what it had originally sought. An array of academic, scientific, consumer and technical organizations expressed concerns that attempts to extend copyright protection too rigidly in cyberspace could interfere with access to data and stifle the growth of the Internet. "What they came up with protects everyone involved," said Julian S. Millstein, a lawyer representing several Internet access providers. "I think the treaties are very good." The Patent and Trademark Office, with strong support from Hollywood, circulated a proposal last winter that could have granted copyright holders increased rights over what are known as transitory copies, which are made automatically by computers while downloading material from the Internet. But that idea fell flat on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers objected to the proposal. During the Geneva negotiations, the American delegation revived the concept, only to provoke a blast of criticism from civil libertarians and the computer industry. "Before substantial pressure was brought to bear on the U.S. delegation, that delegation was trying to do an end run around Congress," Pamela Samuelson, a law professor at the University of California at Berkeley, said. Even though the new agreements do not contain those provisions, Senator Orrin G. Hatch, a Utah Republican and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, sounded a cautionary note about ratification. "I have been very interested in these treaty negotiations," he said in a statement. "There have been concerns that the Administration might agree to more than Congress is able to deliver. Accordingly, I look forward to learning more about the details." But most of those closely involved in the debate appeared satisfied with the final compromise. "We've done a lot of good here for the Internet," Peter Harter, a representative of the Information Technology Association of America, told Reuters News Service. ________________________________________________________ Making Copies in Cyberspace Representatives from nearly 160 countries reached an agreement yesterday on two treaties that are intended to extend copyright law to cover material that can easily be copied and distributed over computer networks. In the United States, the treaties, which have the support of the Clinton Administration, are subject to Senate ratification. Here are the main elements: Music: Current international copyright laws protecting recorded music would be specified to include computer- generated copies of recordings. On-Line Material: International law would specify that copyright protection includes the right to control the on-line distribution of copyrighted materials, as well as the right to prevent others from making unauthorized copies. "Fair use" -- the tradition of allowing individuals to make a limited number of copies for noncommercial purpose, or to use brief excerpts in news reports or artistic criticism -- would still apply in cyberspace. In a compromise meant to defuse one of the harshest criticisms of the treaty, negotiators agreed to delete language that would have treated even temporary copies of material downloaded from the Internet as possible violations of international copyright law.