Copyright Office December 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Copyright Office is adopting an interim regulation that implements certain aspects of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (``STELA''). Cable operators and satellite carriers must file statements of account (``SOAs'') and deposit royalty fees with the Office in order to use the statutory licenses that allow for the retransmission of over-the-air broadcast signals. The Office published two notices of proposed rulemaking concerning a new process to allow copyright owners to audit the SOAs and associated royalty payments. The Office received extensive comments on its proposed audit procedures and is carefully reviewing these comments to address them as appropriate in a final rule. In the meantime, the Office is issuing an interim rule to establish the procedure for filing a notice of intent to audit one or more SOAs.