Gap in Termination Provisions; Inquiry, 15390-15391 [2010-6936]
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15390
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 59 / Monday, March 29, 2010 / Proposed Rules
SUMMARY: In accordance with the
Federal Advisory Committee Act, the
Bureau of Indian Affairs is announcing
that the No Child Left Behind School
Facilities and Construction Negotiated
Rulemaking Committee will hold its
second meeting in Seattle, Washington.
The purpose of the meeting is to
continue negotiations to prepare a
report or reports regarding Bureaufunded school facilities as required
under the No Child Left Behind Act of
2001.
DATES: The Committee’s second meeting
will begin at 8:30 a.m. on April 12,
2010, and end at 12 p.m. on April 15,
2010.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at
the Hilton Seattle Airport and
Conference Center, 17620 International
Blvd., Seattle, Washington 98188–4001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The
Designated Federal Official, Michele F.
Singer, Director, Office of Regulatory
Affairs and Collaborative Action, Office
of the Assistant Secretary—Indian
Affairs, 1001 Indian School Road, NW.,
Suite 312, Albuquerque, NM 87104;
telephone (505) 563–3805; fax (505)
563–3811.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The No
Child Left Behind School Facilities and
Construction Negotiated Rulemaking
Committee was established to prepare
and submit a report or reports to the
Secretary of the Interior setting out: a
method for creating a catalog of school
facilities; a list of school replacement
and new construction needs of the
interested parties and a formula for
equitable distribution of funds to
address those needs; a list of major and
minor renovation needs of the interested
parties and a formula for equitable
distribution of funds to address those
needs; and facilities standards for homeliving (dormitory) situations.
The following items will be on the
agenda:
• Review of Committee Operating
Procedures, discussion, and approval;
• Review of Committee criteria for
decision-making developed in the
visioning exercise in January 2010;
• Overview, review, and discussion
of key formulas from the FMIS March
2010 Training;
• Small group and subcommittee
work: Dormitory Standards, Catalogue/
Inventory, and Formula for Repair and
Renovation;
• Report back from subcommittee
work and discussion;
• Discussion of programmatic
requirements and facility issues;
• Discussion of report outline;
• Discussion of formula and approach
to new school construction;
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:34 Mar 26, 2010
Jkt 220001
• Refinement of options for catalogue
and tentative consensus;
• Finalization of subcommittees,
logistics, next steps, and other details;
• Assessment of the second meeting;
and
• Public comments.
Written comments may be sent to the
Designated Federal Official listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section above. All meetings are open to
the public; however, transportation,
lodging, and meals are the responsibility
of the participating public.
Dated: March 22, 2010.
Larry Echo Hawk,
Assistant Secretary—Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2010–7061 Filed 3–26–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310–W7–P
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Background
37 CFR Part 201
Gap in Termination Provisions; Inquiry
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of
Congress.
ACTION: Notice of public inquiry; request
for comments.
SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is
seeking comments regarding the
application of Title 17 to the
termination of certain grants of transfers
or licenses of copyright, specifically
those for which execution of the grant
occurred prior to January 1, 1978 and
creation of the work occurred on or after
January 1, 1978. The Copyright Office is
seeking comments at this time because
the deadlines for serving notices of
termination for 1978 grants will begin to
expire in 2011 and some stakeholders
have raised questions with the Office
and some Congressional Offices.
DATES: Initial comments on the Notice
of Inquiry and Requests for Comments
are due on or before April 30, 2010.
Reply comments are due on or before
May 14, 2010.
ADDRESSES: The Copyright Office
strongly prefers that comments be
submitted electronically. A comment
page containing a comment form is
posted on the Copyright Office Web site
at https://www.copyright.gov/docs/
termination. The Web site interface
requires submitters to complete a form
specifying name and organization, as
applicable, and to upload comments as
an attachment via a browse button. To
meet accessibility standards, all
comments must be uploaded in a single
file in either the Adobe Portable
Frm 00038
Fmt 4702
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Maria Pallante, Associate Register,
Policy and International Affairs, by
telephone at 202–707–1027 or by
electronic mail at mpall@loc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Copyright Office
PO 00000
Document File (PDF) format that
contains searchable, accessible text (not
an image); Microsoft Word;
WordPerfect; Rich Text Format (RTF); or
ASCII text file format (not a scanned
document). The maximum file size is 6
megabytes (MB). The name of the
submitter and organization should
appear on both the form and the face of
the comments. All comments will be
posted publicly on the Copyright Office
Web site exactly as they are received,
along with names and organizations. If
electronic submission of comments is
not feasible, please contact the
Copyright Office at 202–707–1027 for
special instructions.
Sfmt 4702
The Copyright Act gives authors (and
some heirs, beneficiaries and
representatives who are specified by
statute) the right to terminate certain
grants of transfers or licenses, subject to
the passage of time set forth in the
statute and the execution of certain
conditions precedent.
Termination rights (also referred to as
‘‘recapture rights’’) are equitable
accommodations under the law. They
allow authors or their heirs a second
opportunity to share in the economic
success of their works. Codified in
sections 304(c), 304(d) and 203 of Title
17, respectively, they encompass grants
made before as well as after January 1,
1978 (the effective date of the 1976
Copyright Act). (The provisions do not
apply to copyrights in works made for
hire or grants made by will.)
This inquiry concerns a narrow set of
facts that some authors and their
representatives have brought to the
attention of the Copyright Office and
some Congressional Offices.
Specifically, the Office is interested in
whether or how the termination
provisions apply in circumstances
where the grant was executed prior to
January 1, 1978, but the work was
created on or after January 1, 1978. For
such works, there appears to be some
confusion and possible disagreement
among some stakeholders as to whether
termination rights are exercisable in the
first place and, if they are, which
statutory provision applies. In seeking
comments, the Office is aware that
termination rights may only be
exercised during the window of time
specified by statute and the deadlines
E:\FR\FM\29MRP1.SGM
29MRP1
srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 59 / Monday, March 29, 2010 / Proposed Rules
for grants made in 1978 will begin to
expire next year.
Termination provisions provide
authors with a long-term insurance
policy on the value of their copyrights.
The House Report accompanying the
1976 Copyright Act states that the
provisions are ‘‘needed because of the
unequal bargaining position of authors,
resulting in part from the impossibility
of determining a work’s value until it
has been exploited.’’ H.R. Rep. No. 94–
1476, at 124 (1976). Termination rights
are put in motion by serving notice on
the grantee. The notice must state the
effective date of the termination and
must be served on the grantee not less
than two or more than ten years before
that date. 17 U.S.C. 304(c)(4)(A);
304(d)(1); 203(a)(4)(A). The Register of
Copyrights, through regulations, has set
forth additional core elements that must
be included in the notice, among them
a statement as to whether termination is
being made under section 304(c), 304(d)
or 203. 37 CFR 201.10(b)(1)(i) and
(b)(2)(ii).
Section 304 (c) governs older works,
specifically works in which a copyright
was subsisting in its first or renewal
term as of January 1, 1978. It provides
for termination of the exclusive or
nonexclusive grant of a transfer or
license of the renewal copyright (or any
right under it) executed before January
1, 1978. Termination may be exercised
at any time during a five-year period
beginning at the end of fifty-six years
from the date copyright was originally
secured. Section 304(d) governs a
smaller subset of pre-78 works for
which the termination right under
section 304(c) expired (and was not
exercised) on or before the effective date
(October 27, 1998) of the ‘‘Sonny Bono
Copyright Term Extension Act,’’ which
extended copyright terms by 20 years. It
provides for termination of the
exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a
transfer or license of the renewal
copyright (or any right under it) at any
time during a five-year period beginning
at the end of 75 years from the date
copyright was originally secured.
Section 203 governs grants made
under the ‘‘new law.’’ It provides for
termination of the exclusive or
nonexclusive grant of copyright (or any
right under copyright) executed on or
after January 1, 1978 (regardless of
whether the copyright was secured prior
to or after 1978). Termination may be
exercised at any time during a period of
five years beginning at the end of thirtyfive years from the date of publication
of the work under the grant or at the end
of forty years from the date of execution
of the grant, whichever is earlier. Unlike
section 304, the termination right in
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:34 Mar 26, 2010
Jkt 220001
section 203 applies only to grants
executed by authors. Section 203
terminations may be exercised as of
January 1, 2013, provided notice has
been served no less than two years
prior.
Once the notice is served, a copy of
the notice must be recorded with the
Copyright Office prior to the effective
date of termination. 17 U.S.C.
304(c)(4)(A); 304(d)(1); 203(a)(4)(A).
Upon receipt of the notice, the
Copyright Office undertakes a review of
certain facts, including whether the
notice has been executed in a timely
manner. Because lateness is a fatal
mistake 1 under the law, the Office
reserves the right to refuse recordation
of a notice of termination if, in the
judgment of the Office, such notice of
termination is untimely.2 37 CFR
201.10(f)(4).
Subject of Inquiry
The Copyright Office seeks comment
on the question of whether and how
Title 17 provides a termination right to
authors (and other persons specified by
statute) when the grant was made prior
to 1978 and the work was created on or
after January 1, 1978. For purposes of
illustration, please note the following
examples:
Example 1: A composer signed an
agreement with a music publisher in 1977
transferring the copyrights to future musical
compositions pursuant to a negotiated fee
schedule. She created numerous
compositions under the agreement between
1978 and 1983, some of which were
subsequently published by the publishertransferee. Several of these achieved
immediate popular success and have been
economically viable ever since. The original
contract has not been amended or
superseded.
Example 2: A writer signed an agreement
with a book publisher in 1977 to deliver a
work of nonfiction. The work was completed
and delivered on time in 1979 and was
published in 1980. The book’s initial print
run sold out slowly, but because the author’s
subsequent works were critically acclaimed,
it was released with an updated cover last
year and is now a best seller. The rights
remained with the publisher all along and
the original royalty structure continues to
apply.
1 By contrast, the regulations provide
accommodations for certain harmless errors. 37 CFR
201.10(e)(1)–(2).
2 If a document is submitted as a notice of
termination after the statutory deadline has expired,
the Office will offer to record the document as a
‘‘document pertaining to copyright’’ pursuant to
§ 201.4(c)(3), but the Office will not index the
document as a notice of termination. Whether a
document so recorded is sufficient in any instance
to effect termination as a matter of law shall be
determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.
PO 00000
Frm 00039
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
15391
Questions
In order to better understand the
application of sections 304(c), 304(d)
and 203 to the grants of transfers and
licenses discussed above, the Copyright
Office seeks comments as follows:
A. Experience. Please describe any
experience you have in exercising or
negotiating termination rights for pre1978 grants of transfers or licenses for
works that were created on or after
January 1, 1978.
B. Interpretation. Are the grants of
transfers or licenses discussed above
terminable under Title 17 as currently
codified? If so, under which provision?
What is the basis for your
determination? Are there state or federal
laws other than copyright that are
relevant? Is delivery of the work by the
grantor to the grantee relevant to the
question of termination? Is publication
relevant?
C. Recommendations. Do you have
any recommendations with respect to
the grants of transfers or licenses
illustrated above?
D. Other Issues. Are there other issues
with respect to the application or
exercise of termination provisions that
you would like to bring to our attention
for future consideration?
Dated: March 24, 2010.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office.
[FR Doc. 2010–6936 Filed 3–26–10; 8:45 am]
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[EPA–R06–OAR–2007–0526; FRL–9130–9]
Approval and Promulgation of Air
Quality Implementation Plans; Texas;
Revision to Control Volatile Organic
Compound Emissions in the Houston/
Galveston/Brazoria 8-Hour Ozone
Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection
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ACTION: Proposed rule.
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection
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E:\FR\FM\29MRP1.SGM
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[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 59 (Monday, March 29, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 15390-15391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-6936]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
Gap in Termination Provisions; Inquiry
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Notice of public inquiry; request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is seeking comments regarding the
application of Title 17 to the termination of certain grants of
transfers or licenses of copyright, specifically those for which
execution of the grant occurred prior to January 1, 1978 and creation
of the work occurred on or after January 1, 1978. The Copyright Office
is seeking comments at this time because the deadlines for serving
notices of termination for 1978 grants will begin to expire in 2011 and
some stakeholders have raised questions with the Office and some
Congressional Offices.
DATES: Initial comments on the Notice of Inquiry and Requests for
Comments are due on or before April 30, 2010. Reply comments are due on
or before May 14, 2010.
ADDRESSES: The Copyright Office strongly prefers that comments be
submitted electronically. A comment page containing a comment form is
posted on the Copyright Office Web site at https://www.copyright.gov/docs/termination. The Web site interface requires submitters to
complete a form specifying name and organization, as applicable, and to
upload comments as an attachment via a browse button. To meet
accessibility standards, all comments must be uploaded in a single file
in either the Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) format that contains
searchable, accessible text (not an image); Microsoft Word;
WordPerfect; Rich Text Format (RTF); or ASCII text file format (not a
scanned document). The maximum file size is 6 megabytes (MB). The name
of the submitter and organization should appear on both the form and
the face of the comments. All comments will be posted publicly on the
Copyright Office Web site exactly as they are received, along with
names and organizations. If electronic submission of comments is not
feasible, please contact the Copyright Office at 202-707-1027 for
special instructions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Maria Pallante, Associate Register,
Policy and International Affairs, by telephone at 202-707-1027 or by
electronic mail at mpall@loc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Copyright Act gives authors (and some heirs, beneficiaries and
representatives who are specified by statute) the right to terminate
certain grants of transfers or licenses, subject to the passage of time
set forth in the statute and the execution of certain conditions
precedent.
Termination rights (also referred to as ``recapture rights'') are
equitable accommodations under the law. They allow authors or their
heirs a second opportunity to share in the economic success of their
works. Codified in sections 304(c), 304(d) and 203 of Title 17,
respectively, they encompass grants made before as well as after
January 1, 1978 (the effective date of the 1976 Copyright Act). (The
provisions do not apply to copyrights in works made for hire or grants
made by will.)
This inquiry concerns a narrow set of facts that some authors and
their representatives have brought to the attention of the Copyright
Office and some Congressional Offices. Specifically, the Office is
interested in whether or how the termination provisions apply in
circumstances where the grant was executed prior to January 1, 1978,
but the work was created on or after January 1, 1978. For such works,
there appears to be some confusion and possible disagreement among some
stakeholders as to whether termination rights are exercisable in the
first place and, if they are, which statutory provision applies. In
seeking comments, the Office is aware that termination rights may only
be exercised during the window of time specified by statute and the
deadlines
[[Page 15391]]
for grants made in 1978 will begin to expire next year.
Termination provisions provide authors with a long-term insurance
policy on the value of their copyrights. The House Report accompanying
the 1976 Copyright Act states that the provisions are ``needed because
of the unequal bargaining position of authors, resulting in part from
the impossibility of determining a work's value until it has been
exploited.'' H.R. Rep. No. 94-1476, at 124 (1976). Termination rights
are put in motion by serving notice on the grantee. The notice must
state the effective date of the termination and must be served on the
grantee not less than two or more than ten years before that date. 17
U.S.C. 304(c)(4)(A); 304(d)(1); 203(a)(4)(A). The Register of
Copyrights, through regulations, has set forth additional core elements
that must be included in the notice, among them a statement as to
whether termination is being made under section 304(c), 304(d) or 203.
37 CFR 201.10(b)(1)(i) and (b)(2)(ii).
Section 304 (c) governs older works, specifically works in which a
copyright was subsisting in its first or renewal term as of January 1,
1978. It provides for termination of the exclusive or nonexclusive
grant of a transfer or license of the renewal copyright (or any right
under it) executed before January 1, 1978. Termination may be exercised
at any time during a five-year period beginning at the end of fifty-six
years from the date copyright was originally secured. Section 304(d)
governs a smaller subset of pre-78 works for which the termination
right under section 304(c) expired (and was not exercised) on or before
the effective date (October 27, 1998) of the ``Sonny Bono Copyright
Term Extension Act,'' which extended copyright terms by 20 years. It
provides for termination of the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of a
transfer or license of the renewal copyright (or any right under it) at
any time during a five-year period beginning at the end of 75 years
from the date copyright was originally secured.
Section 203 governs grants made under the ``new law.'' It provides
for termination of the exclusive or nonexclusive grant of copyright (or
any right under copyright) executed on or after January 1, 1978
(regardless of whether the copyright was secured prior to or after
1978). Termination may be exercised at any time during a period of five
years beginning at the end of thirty-five years from the date of
publication of the work under the grant or at the end of forty years
from the date of execution of the grant, whichever is earlier. Unlike
section 304, the termination right in section 203 applies only to
grants executed by authors. Section 203 terminations may be exercised
as of January 1, 2013, provided notice has been served no less than two
years prior.
Once the notice is served, a copy of the notice must be recorded
with the Copyright Office prior to the effective date of termination.
17 U.S.C. 304(c)(4)(A); 304(d)(1); 203(a)(4)(A). Upon receipt of the
notice, the Copyright Office undertakes a review of certain facts,
including whether the notice has been executed in a timely manner.
Because lateness is a fatal mistake \1\ under the law, the Office
reserves the right to refuse recordation of a notice of termination if,
in the judgment of the Office, such notice of termination is
untimely.\2\ 37 CFR 201.10(f)(4).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ By contrast, the regulations provide accommodations for
certain harmless errors. 37 CFR 201.10(e)(1)-(2).
\2\ If a document is submitted as a notice of termination after
the statutory deadline has expired, the Office will offer to record
the document as a ``document pertaining to copyright'' pursuant to
Sec. 201.4(c)(3), but the Office will not index the document as a
notice of termination. Whether a document so recorded is sufficient
in any instance to effect termination as a matter of law shall be
determined by a court of competent jurisdiction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject of Inquiry
The Copyright Office seeks comment on the question of whether and
how Title 17 provides a termination right to authors (and other persons
specified by statute) when the grant was made prior to 1978 and the
work was created on or after January 1, 1978. For purposes of
illustration, please note the following examples:
Example 1: A composer signed an agreement with a music publisher
in 1977 transferring the copyrights to future musical compositions
pursuant to a negotiated fee schedule. She created numerous
compositions under the agreement between 1978 and 1983, some of
which were subsequently published by the publisher-transferee.
Several of these achieved immediate popular success and have been
economically viable ever since. The original contract has not been
amended or superseded.
Example 2: A writer signed an agreement with a book publisher
in 1977 to deliver a work of nonfiction. The work was completed and
delivered on time in 1979 and was published in 1980. The book's
initial print run sold out slowly, but because the author's
subsequent works were critically acclaimed, it was released with an
updated cover last year and is now a best seller. The rights
remained with the publisher all along and the original royalty
structure continues to apply.
Questions
In order to better understand the application of sections 304(c),
304(d) and 203 to the grants of transfers and licenses discussed above,
the Copyright Office seeks comments as follows:
A. Experience. Please describe any experience you have in
exercising or negotiating termination rights for pre-1978 grants of
transfers or licenses for works that were created on or after January
1, 1978.
B. Interpretation. Are the grants of transfers or licenses
discussed above terminable under Title 17 as currently codified? If so,
under which provision? What is the basis for your determination? Are
there state or federal laws other than copyright that are relevant? Is
delivery of the work by the grantor to the grantee relevant to the
question of termination? Is publication relevant?
C. Recommendations. Do you have any recommendations with respect to
the grants of transfers or licenses illustrated above?
D. Other Issues. Are there other issues with respect to the
application or exercise of termination provisions that you would like
to bring to our attention for future consideration?
Dated: March 24, 2010.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights, U.S. Copyright Office.
[FR Doc. 2010-6936 Filed 3-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P