Library of Congress 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) publish a notice of inquiry regarding categorization of claims for cable or satellite royalty funds and treatment of royalties associated with invalid claims.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for the submission of written reply comments in response to its September 24, 2019 notification of inquiry regarding implementation regulations for the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to the royalty rate that noncommercial radio stations at certain colleges, universities, and other educational institutions that are not affiliated with National Public Radio must pay for the use in 2020 of published nondramatic musical compositions in the SESAC repertory pursuant to the statutory license under the Copyright Act for noncommercial broadcasting.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulation governing the group registration option for serials. Under the current regulation, applicants may complete and submit the online application designated for a group of serial issues, or they may complete and submit a paper application using Form SE/Group, provided the Office receives the paper form by December 30, 2019. Applicants submitting Form SE/Group may submit a physical copy of each issue in the group; applicants using the online application may upload one electronic copy of each issue through the Office's electronic registration system or they may submit one physical copy, provided the Office receives the physical copy by December 30, 2019. This final rule eliminates the reference to paper applications and physical deposit copies. Beginning December 31, 2019, the Office will no longer accept a paper application or a physical deposit for this group registration option.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations governing the rates and terms for the digital performances of sound recordings by new subscription services and for the making of ephemeral recordings necessary to facilitate those transmissions for the period commencing January 1, 2021, and ending on December 31, 2025.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations governing the rates and terms for the digital performance of sound recordings by noncommercial educational webcasters and for the making of ephemeral recordings necessary for the facilitation of such transmissions for the period commencing January 1, 2021, and ending on December 31, 2025.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a notification of inquiry regarding the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. Title I establishes a blanket compulsory license, which digital music providers may obtain to make and deliver digital phonorecords of musical works. The blanket license, which will be administered by a mechanical licensing collective, will become available on January 1, 2021. The MMA specifically directs the Copyright Office to adopt a number of regulations to govern the new blanket licensing regime, including regulations regarding notices of license, notices of nonblanket activity, usage reports and adjustments, information to be included in the mechanical licensing collective's database, database usability, interoperability, and usage restrictions, and the handling of confidential information. The statute also vests the Office with general authority to adopt such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to effectuate this new blanket licensing structure. To promulgate these regulations, the Office seeks public comment regarding the subjects of inquiry discussed in this notification.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce receipt of a notice of intent to audit the 2018 statements of account submitted by Sirius XM Radio Inc.'s Commercial Webcaster service, Preexisting Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service, New Subscription Service, and Business Establishment Service concerning royalty payments they made pursuant to two statutory licenses.

Pursuant to title I of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act, and following a solicitation of proposals and public comment on those proposals, the Register is designating the entities who will perform certain functions relating to the compulsory license for digital music providers to make and distribute digital phonorecord deliveries. For the reasons published in this document, the Register designates Mechanical Licensing Collective, Inc. as the mechanical licensing collective and Digital Licensee Coordinator, Inc. as the digital licensee coordinator, including their individual proposed board members.

The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) adopt regulations governing proceedings to determine the reasonableness of, and allocate responsibility to fund, the operating budget of the Mechanical Licensing Collective authorized by the Music Modernization Act (MMA). The Judges also adopt proposed amendments to extant rules as required by the MMA.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce their final determination of the distribution of 2007 DART royalties in the Featured Artists Subfund of the Sound Recordings Fund.

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to create a new group registration option for musical works, sound recordings, and certain other works contained on an album. The proposed rule will expand the registration options currently available to register multiple musical works or sound recordings under one application. In particular, this proposed group registration option will permit the registration of multiple musical works and/or sound recordings distributed together, regardless of whether such distribution occurs via physical or digital media.

The U.S. Copyright Office is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on April 9, 2019. The document incorrectly numbered paragraphs governing the filing fees of certain documents that can be filed with the Copyright Office.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce their final determination of the distribution percentages of cable and satellite royalties in the program suppliers funds and the devotional funds for numerous years.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule regarding the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the Orrin G. Hatch- Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. In connection with the establishment of federal remedies for unauthorized uses of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972 (``Pre-1972 Sound Recordings''), Congress established an exception for certain noncommercial uses of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings that are not being commercially exploited. To qualify for this exception, a user must file a notice of noncommercial use after conducting a good faith, reasonable search to determine whether the Pre-1972 Sound Recording is being commercially exploited, and the rights owner of the sound recording must not object to the use within 90 days. After soliciting three rounds of public comments through a notice of inquiry and a notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office is issuing final regulations identifying the specific steps that a user should take to demonstrate she has made a good faith, reasonable search. The rule also details the filing requirements for the user to submit a notice of noncommercial use and for a rights owner to submit a notice opting out of such use.

Pursuant to the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (``MMA''), the U.S. Copyright Office is adopting as final a rule regarding the filing of schedules by rights owners listing their sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, and the filing of contact information by entities publicly performing these sound recordings by means of digital audio transmission. This rule largely finalizes the interim rule published on October 16, 2018, with some adjustments adopted in response to public comment.

The U.S. Copyright Office is announcing the release of a public draft of an update to its administrative manual, the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition. The update has been released in draft form to give the public an opportunity to review and provide comments on the revisions.

The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) announce commencement of a proceeding to determine reasonable rates and terms for digital performance of sound recordings by new subscription services and the making of ephemeral recordings to facilitate those performances for the period beginning January 1, 2021, and ending December 31, 2025. The Judges also announce the date by which a party wishing to participate in the rate determination proceeding must file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee.

The U.S. Copyright Office is amending its regulation governing the group registration option for newspaper issues. This rule will eliminate the three-month deadline for submitting this type of claim. Based on requests received from several newspaper publishers, the Office has determined that there is a legitimate need to make this change effective immediately.

The U.S. Copyright Office is issuing a final rule that amends its regulations governing its practices and procedures under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The final rule closely follows the February 7, 2017 interim rule, implementing the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016. The final rule makes limited modifications to align with public comments and to promote further regulatory clarity and customer service.

The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) announce commencement of a proceeding to determine distribution of 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 royalties deposited with the Copyright Office under the statutory license for secondary transmissions satellite television services. The Judges also set the date by which all parties wishing to participate and share in the distribution of satellite retransmission royalties for the years 2014 through 2017 must file a Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee, if applicable. The Judges seek a single Petition to Participate from any entity intending to participate in the Allocation Phase or the Distribution Phase of this proceeding, or both Phases. ANY PARTY THAT FILED A PETITION TO PARTICIPATE IN ANY OF THE PROCEEDINGS CONSOLIDATED IN THIS PROCEEDING MUST NONETHELESS FILE A PETITION TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CONSOLIDATED PROCEEDING. ANY PARTY THAT FAILS TO FILE A PETITION TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS CONSOLIDATED PROCEEDING BY THE TIME SET IN THIS NOTICE SHALL NOT BE A PARTICIPANT AT ANY STAGE OF THIS CONSOLIDATED PROCEEDING.

The U.S. Copyright Office (``Copyright Office'' or ``Office'') is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the Classics Protection and Access Act, title II of the recently enacted Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. In connection with the establishment of federal remedies for unauthorized uses of sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972 (``Pre-1972 Sound Recordings''), Congress also established an exception for certain noncommercial uses of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings that are not being commercially exploited. To qualify for this exemption, a user must file a notice of noncommercial use after conducting a good faith, reasonable search to determine whether the Pre-1972 Sound Recording is being commercially exploited, and the rights owner of the sound recording must not object to the use within 90 days. After soliciting public comments through a notice of inquiry, the Office is proposing regulations identifying the specific steps that a user should take to demonstrate she has made a good faith, reasonable search. The proposed rule also details the filing requirements for the user to submit a notice of noncommercial use and for a rights owner to submit a notice objecting to such use.

The U.S. Copyright Office is publishing a list of works for which it has received and processed a Notice of Intent to Enforce copyrights restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act. The Office is required by law to publish such lists to provide a public record of works in which copyrights have been restored and whose owners have notified the Office of their intent to enforce those copyrights. In addition, publication triggers the statutory 12-month grace period within which reliance parties may continue to exploit existing copies of the identified works.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce receipt of two notices of intent to audit the 2015, 2016, and 2017 statements of account submitted by commercial webcasters and broadcasters Entercom Communications Corp. and iHeartMedia concerning royalty payments each made pursuant to two statutory licenses.

The U.S. Copyright Office is conducting a study to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the Copyright Act's safe harbor provisions for online service providers. At this time, the Office is announcing that it will hold a one-day public roundtable to allow interested members of the public to address relevant domestic and international developments that have occurred since the close of the written comment period on February 6, 2017. The roundtable is not intended to allow participants to supplement the record with respect to events occurring before that date, and discussion will be limited to the specific topics set forth in this notice.