The question of copyrights and the music industry was already old and vexed. The digital age, with the advent of millions of songs accessible at the click of a mouse, has added an extra layer.

Governments and industry should invest €45 billion in cloud computing by 2020 as part of an EU strategy to generate an estimated €900 billion in GDP and an additional 3.8 billion by the end of the decade.

Search-engine Google is set to avoid fines worth up to $4 billion after the European Commission's competition boss Joaquin Almunia publicly acknowledged that a deal is close.

Plans to re-write EU rules on music copyright have received a cool reception by artists and collecting societies.

The EU's collecting societies have not adapted to the global shift to the digital age. Instead, music pirates seize the opportunities that the online world offers, writes Michel Barnier, EU commissioner for Internal Market and Services.