Section 302 Report, 27091-27092 [2011-11226]

Agencies

• Library of Congress
• Copyright Office

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 90 (Tuesday, May 10, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27091-27092]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11226]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

[Docket No. RM 2010-10]


Section 302 Report

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Announcement of public hearing.

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SUMMARY: In Section 302 of the Satellite Television Extension and 
Localism Act, Congress directed the Copyright Office (``Office'') to 
prepare a report addressing possible mechanisms, methods, and 
recommendations for phasing out the statutory licensing requirements 
set forth in Sections 111, 119, and 122 of the Copyright Act. The 
Office published a Notice of Inquiry (``NOI'') in the Federal Register, 
seeking comments on issues related to Section 302. 76 FR 11816 (March 
3, 2011). The Office announces that it will hold a public hearing on 
the issues raised by the NOI on June 10, 2011.

DATES: A public hearing regarding marketplace alternatives to statutory 
licensing schemes under Sections 111, 119, and 122 of the Copyright Act 
will be held on Friday, June 10, 2011. Notices of intention to testify 
must be received by the Office by 5 p.m. E.D.T. on Friday, May 27, 
2011. Written testimony and written questions are due by noon E.D.T, on 
Wednesday, June 8, 2011.

ADDRESSES: The hearing will be held in the Copyright Hearing Room, LM-
408, Madison Building, The Library of Congress, 101 Independence 
Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20540. All submissions shall be submitted 
electronically. A page pertaining to the hearing will be posted on the 
Copyright Office Web site at https://www.copyright.gov/docs/section302. 
Interested parties will be able to submit (1) notices of intent to 
participate in the hearing; (2) suggested questions for the Copyright 
Office to ask at the hearing; and (3) written testimony electronically. 
The Web site interface permits interested parties to complete a form 
specifying name and organization, as applicable, and to upload 
documents as attachments via a browser button. To meet accessibility 
standards, all submissions must be uploaded 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 
name of the submitter and organization should appear on both the form 
and the face of all the submissions. All submissions will be posted 
publicly on the Copyright Office Web site exactly as they are received, 
along with names and organizations. Persons who are unable to make 
their submissions electronically should contact Ben Golant, Assistant 
General Counsel, at 202-707-9127.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben Golant, Assistant General Counsel, 
and Tanya M. Sandros, Deputy General Counsel, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. 
Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 
707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On May 27, 2010, the President signed the Satellite Television 
Extension and Localism Act of 2010. (``STELA''). See Public Law 111-
175, 124 Stat. 1218 (2010). The legislation extended the term of the 
Section 119 license for another five years, updated the statutory 
license structures to account for changes resulting from the nationwide 
transition to digital television, and revised the Section 111 and 
Section 122 licenses in several other respects. In addition, STELA 
instructed the Copyright Office, the Government Accountability Office 
and the FCC to conduct studies and report findings to Congress on 
different structural and regulatory aspects of the broadcast signal 
carriage marketplace in the United States. Section 302 of STELA, 
entitled ``Report on Market Based Alternatives to Statutory 
Licensing,'' charges the Copyright Office with the following:

    Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, and after consultation with the Federal Communications 
Commission, the Register of Copyrights shall submit to the 
appropriate Congressional committees a report containing:
    (1) Proposed mechanisms, methods, and recommendations on how to 
implement a phase-out of the statutory licensing requirements set 
forth in sections 111, 119, and 122 of title 17, United States Code, 
by making such sections inapplicable to the secondary transmission 
of a performance or display of a work embodied in a primary 
transmission of a broadcast station that is authorized to license 
the same secondary transmission directly with respect to all of the 
performances and displays embodied in such primary transmission;
    (2) any recommendations for alternative means to implement a 
timely and effective phase-out of the statutory licensing 
requirements set forth in sections 111, 119, and 122 of title 17, 
United States Code; and
    (3) any recommendations for legislative or administrative 
actions as may be appropriate to achieve such a phase-out.

In response to these directives, the Office published a Notice of 
Inquiry in the Federal Register, 76 FR 11816 (March 3, 2011), seeking 
comments and information from the public on several issues that are 
central to the scope and operation of Section 302 and critical to the 
Office's analysis of the legal and business landscapes pertaining to 
video programming.

II. Notice of Public Hearing

    The Office finds that public input on marketplace alternatives to 
the statutory licenses from interested parties is critical to a 
balanced and comprehensive report to Congress. Consequently, the Office 
has determined that a process involving both written comments and an 
open hearing is needed to gather the necessary information. The Office 
is therefore announcing the scheduling of a public hearing on the 
issues raised in the Section 302 NOI to complement the comments and 
reply comments submitted in this proceeding.
    The Office will conduct its hearing with interested parties in the 
Copyright Office Hearing Room, LM-408, at the Madison Building of the 
Library of Congress on June 10, 2011. The format for these hearings 
will resemble the traditional Congressional hearing model in that there 
will be panels of witnesses presenting testimony to a panel of 
Copyright Office staff. Each participant will have a limited time to 
present his or her testimony. The Office will determine time limits for 
the witnesses once it receives all requests to testify. After the oral 
statements, the Office staff will ask questions of the various persons 
who testify, and interested parties may submit written questions to the 
Office by June 8, 2011, which may be addressed to specific witnesses or 
the

[[Page 27092]]

witnesses as a whole, at the discretion of the Office.
    The public hearings are open to the general public. However, in 
order to testify, interested persons must inform the Office of their 
intention to testify no later than the close of business on May 27, 
2011. Notification of intention to testify must be in written form and 
include the following information for each participant: Name, 
organization, title, postal mailing address, telephone, telefax, an e-
mail address, and indicate if there is a need for audiovisual equipment 
to make a presentation. Notices of intention may be filed 
electronically according to the instructions noted above. Notifications 
received after the May 27, 2011 deadline will not be accepted, and such 
person or persons will not be allowed to testify.
    Following receipt of the requests to testify, the Copyright Office 
will prepare an agenda of the hearing which will be posted on the 
Copyright Office Web site at: https://www.copyright.gov/docs/section302/ 
and will also be sent to all persons who have submitted requests to 
testify.
    The public hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will continue until 
5 p.m., unless otherwise directed. The Office will notify each witness 
who has filed a timely notice of intention to testify of the time he/
she is expected to appear and offer testimony. The Office will also 
notify each witness of the other witnesses who will appear on his/her 
panel and post a list of the panels and witnesses on the Web site.
    Transcription services of the public hearings will be provided by 
the Office. Those parties interested in obtaining transcripts of the 
hearings will need to purchase them from the transcription service.
    Testimony. All persons who notify the Office of their intention to 
testify may submit a copy of their testimony by the June 8, 2011, 
deadline. In addition, and as noted above, interested parties may also 
submit by noon on June 8, 2011, suggested written questions, for 
possible use by panel members of the Copyright Office during the course 
of the hearings. Because of time limitations, the Office requests 
parties submitting testimony to file their statements to the Office 
electronically following the instructions noted above for submissions 
on or before the deadline.
    Scope of the Proceeding. The Copyright Office stresses that factual 
arguments are at least as important as legal arguments and encourages 
persons who wish to testify to provide demonstrative evidence to 
supplement their testimony. While testimony from attorneys who can 
articulate legal arguments in support of particular for marketplace 
alternatives is useful, testimony from witnesses who can provide an 
economic analysis of the issues at hand is strongly encouraged. The 
Office also stresses that the Congressional mandate for this study is 
to come up with ``[p]roposed mechanisms, methods, and recommendations 
on how to implement a phase-out of the statutory requirements'' of 
sections 111, 119, and 122 (emphasis added), and not to recommend 
whether to phase out the existing statutory licenses.

III. Summary

    The Office announces a formal hearing to be held on June 10, 2011, 
with relevant filing dates and instructions noted above.

    Dated: May 4, 2011.
Maria A. Pallante,
Acting Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 2011-11226 Filed 5-9-11; 8:45 am]
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