def copy_of_xml_element(elem):
    """
    This method returns a shallow copy of a XML-Element.
    This method is for compatibility with Python 2.6 or earlier..
    In Python 2.7 you can use  'copyElem = elem.copy()'  instead.
    """

    copyElem = ElementTree.Element(elem.tag, elem.attrib)
    for child in elem:
        copyElem.append(child)
    return copyElem
This method returns a shallow copy of a XML-Element.
    This method is for compatibility with Python 2.6 or earlier..
    In Python 2.7 you can use  'copyElem = elem.copy()'  instead.