Library of Congress January 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Register of Copyrights issues the following decision identifying and correcting erroneous resolutions of material questions of substantive law under title 17 that underlie or are contained in the Copyright Royalty Judges' final determination regarding adjustment of reasonable rates and terms of royalty payments for the making and distribution of phonorecords of musical works, Docket No. 2006-3 CRB DPRA. The Register concludes that the Copyright Royalty Judges erroneously did not refer two novel questions of law as required under the statute; that they were in error in their conclusions regarding both their and the Register's authority to review regulations submitted to them under an agreement by the participants; and that their conclusion that they could not review the agreement submitted by the participants led to the inclusion of regulations that constitute erroneous resolution by the CRJs of material questions of substantive law under title 17. This decision corrects such errors and shall be made part of the record of the proceeding (Docket No. 2006-3 CRB DPRA).

The Copyright Office published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2008, a notice pertaining to its triennial rulemaking proceeding in accordance with a provision of the Copyright Act which was added by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and which provides that the Librarian of Congress may exempt certain classes of works from the prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. This document makes technical corrections to clarify the record of the proposed rulemaking.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are announcing the commencement of the proceeding to determine the reasonable rates and terms for two statutory licenses, permitting certain digital performances of sound recordings and the making of ephemeral recordings for the period beginning January 1, 2011, and ending on December 31, 2015. The Copyright Royalty Judges also are announcing the date by which a party who wishes to participate in the rate determination proceeding must file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee.