washington the music and technology industries which have battled over consumers downloading music on the internet have negotiated a compromise to protect copyrighted works such as movies and songs without new government requirements people familiar with the plan saidthe agreement contends that us laws do not need to be amended for example to permit consumers to make backup copies of compact discs they purchase or copy songs onto handheld devices the technology industry also will announce its support for aggressive enforcement against digital pirates under the plan future generations of entertainment devices wont be required by law to have locking controls that make it more difficult to copy digital entertainment technology companies have complained that the locking devices are too expensive and complexthe deal attempts to heads off government intervention in the rising debate over what consumers can do with copyrighted material they have purchased the agreement was negotiated among the recording indusry association of america the business software alliance and the computer systems policy project the software alliances members include microsoft apple computer inc and adobe systems inc the policy project is made up of chief executives from ibm intel hewlettpackard and dellnotably absent from the new copyright agreement was the motion picture association of america which has aggressively supported new government requirements for builtin locking controls on new devices such as dvd recorders