"...The Danish government is preparing a law that will legalize the downloading of music from the Internet, a government spokesman confirmed Friday, angering copyright holders. Elsebeth Nielsen, the Danish minister for culture, wants to relax the country's private copying law. Danes currently aren't allowed to make any copies of digital media such as CDs. The proposed rules, however, will give Danes more rights then many other Europeans.

"We will make it legal to make digital copies for personal use. Danes would be allowed to make a copy of a CD for use in their cars, a form of offline copying allowed in many countries. The proposed law also will make it legal for Danes to copy music from the Internet to their PC. Offering songs online to others, which can for example be done by using Napster software, still won't be legal in Denmark. Danes can legally download from the Internet, but sharing their own files will be illegal," said ministry spokesman Kenneth Jorgensen.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the worldwide recording industry, said it would be "shocked" if Denmark is in fact allowing digital downloads of copyright files. "I can't believe you can make a lawful copy from a completely illegal Internet copy. In our view, that would be against the European copyright directive and violate World Trade Organization rules, as it would interfere with normal trade." said Allen Dixon, general counsel for IFPI..."