BRUSSELS, Belgium – Copyright groups may not be able to demand that telecom companies hand over the names and addresses of people suspected of swapping music illegally online, a senior legal adviser to the EU’s highest court said.

Advocate General Juliane Kokott, advising the European Court of Justice, said Wednesday that EU law directs governments to resist the disclosure of personal data on Internet traffic in civil cases _ unlike criminal cases, where compliance would be required.

Promusicae, a nonprofit group of Spanish music producers, made a legal complaint against Spain’s largest Internet provider, Telefonica, for not handing over the names and addresses linked to computers the group believes used the peer-to-peer file-sharing tool Kazaa to distribute copyrighted songs.

A Spanish court hearing that case had asked the EU court for guidance on what EU law allows. Kokott’s legal opinion is meant to help judges at the EU court come up with a recommendation, which the Spanish court can use to rule on the case. The EU court decision could then be cited by other national courts throughout the 27-nation bloc.

Telefonica says the law only allows it to share personal data for criminal prosecutions or matters of public security and national defense.

Separately, a Belgian court ruled last month that a local Internet provider, Scarlet, must filter or block file-sharing software to prevent users downloading music owned by Belgian copyright owners. It has six months to comply or faces daily fines.

A service of the Associated Press(AP)