Library of Congress – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations that would set the royalty rates and terms for the digital transmission 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, 2016, and ending on December 31, 2020.

The United States Copyright Office is conducting the sixth triennial rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'') concerning possible exemptions to the DMCA's prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. On September 17, 2014, the Office published a Notice of Inquiry requesting petitions for proposed exemptions, and it has received forty-four petitions in response. With this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Office is initiating three rounds of public comment on exemptions proposed in the petitions. Interested parties are invited to make full legal and evidentiary submissions in support of or opposition to the proposed exemptions, in accordance with the requirements set forth below. The Office is providing a ``long comment'' form for this purpose. The Office is also offering members of the public the opportunity to express general support for or opposition to any of the proposals via a ``short comment'' form. Commenters should carefully review the legal and evidentiary standards for the granting of exemptions under the DMCA, which are set forth in the September Notice of Inquiry. Commenters should also review the guidance provided in this document regarding specific areas of legal and factual interest with respect to each proposed exemption or category of exemptions, and the types of evidence that commenters may wish to submit for the record. This document also provides information concerning the recommended format and content for submissions, including documentary and multimedia evidence.

The U.S. Copyright Office is adopting a final rule that establishes a new regulation allowing copyright owners to audit the statements of account that cable operators and satellite carriers file with the Office reflecting royalty payments due for secondary transmissions of copyrighted broadcast programming made pursuant to statutory licenses.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are publishing for comment proposed regulations governing the rates and terms for the digital performances 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, 2016, and ending on December 31, 2020.

The United States Copyright Office published in the Federal Register of September 18, 2014, a final rule implementing section 115(c)(5) of the Copyright Act of 1976, title 17 of the United States Code and prescribing by regulation the procedures for the monthly payment of royalties and preparation and service of monthly and annual statements of account by licensees pursuant to the Section 115 compulsory license for the making and distribution of phonorecords of nondramatic musical works. This document makes technical corrections to that final rule.

The United States Copyright Office is issuing a final rule to implement section 115 of the Copyright Act of 1976. Section 115 establishes a compulsory license for the making and distribution of phonorecords of nondramatic musical works. Section 115, in turn, requires the Register of Copyrights to prescribe by regulation the procedures for the monthly payment of royalties and preparation and service of monthly and annual statements of account by licensees. This final rule updates the existing payment and statement-of-account regulations in response to legal and marketplace developments, including the Copyright Royalty Board's adoption of newer percentage- of-revenue royalty rate structures for certain digital music services, and changes in accounting and industry practice in the years since the rules were last substantially amended.

The U.S. Copyright Office published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register a final rule amending its regulations to allow remitters to submit title lists in electronic format when recording a document pertaining to 100 or more copyrighted works. As the rule explains, when a remitter submits an electronic title list along with a document for recordation, the Office will use the information in the electronic list to populate its online Public Catalog. In response to comments received during the electronic title list rulemaking, the Office also established a process to allow a remitter to correct inaccuracies in the Office's online Public Catalog resulting from errors in an electronic list submitted by the remitter. In this separate notice of proposed rulemaking, the Office seeks to establish a new fee for this correction service at the rate of seven dollars per corrected title.

On May 9, 2013 the U.S. Copyright Office issued a notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments concerning a new regulation that will allow copyright owners to audit the statements of account and royalty fees that cable operators and satellite carriers deposit with the Office for secondary transmissions of broadcast programming made pursuant to statutory licenses. The Office has revised the proposed regulation to address certain logistical concerns and based on further input that it has received from copyright owners, cable operators, satellite carriers, and accounting professionals. The Office seeks comments on the revised proposal before it is adopted as a final rule.

The U.S. Copyright Office (the ``Office'') is announcing the release of a public draft of its administrative manual, the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition (the ``Third Edition''). It is available on the Office's Web site at https:// copyright.gov/comp3/. The Third Edition will remain in draft form for 120 days pending final review and implementation. It is expected to take effect on or around December 15, 2014.

The U.S. Copyright Office is extending the deadline for public comments that address topics listed in the Office's July 15, 2014 Request for Additional Comments.

The U.S. Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulations for the recordation of copyright transfers and other documents. The proposed rule is intended to reduce the amount of time the Office requires to process certain types of documents submitted for recordation and help to alleviate remitter concerns regarding the receipt of documents for processing. To these ends, the Office is proposing to amend the regulations to encourage remitters to include a cover sheet with the documents they submit for processing; allow remitters to submit long title lists in electronic format; and provide remitters with the option to request return receipts that acknowledge that the Office has received a submission. The Office invites public comment on the proposed rule.

The Copyright Royalty Judges are extending the period for filing comments on Notice and Recordkeeping for Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License.

The United States Copyright Office is extending the deadline for public comments regarding the effectiveness of existing methods of licensing music that were solicited in a March 17, 2014 Notice of Inquiry. See 78 FR 14739 (Mar. 17, 2014).

The Copyright Royalty Judges affirm adoption of the final regulation for filing notice of use and the delivery of records of use of sound recordings under two statutory licenses of the Copyright Act. The purpose of this affirmation is to remove any doubt about the effectiveness of the final regulation in light of a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding the constitutionality of the manner in which the Copyright Royalty Judges were appointed.

On March 24, 2014, the United States Copyright Office published a final rule concerning fees for Office services. The fee for a particular service did not change, but was inadvertently omitted from the schedule of fees in the final rule. The office hereby corrects that omission.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce their final determination of the rates and terms for two statutory licenses, permitting certain digital performances of sound recordings and the making of ephemeral recordings, for the period beginning on January 1, 2011, and ending on December 31, 2015.

The United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress is publishing a final rule establishing adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees will recover a significant part of the costs to the Office of registering copyright claims and provide greater cost recovery for certain other services provided by the Office. The new fee schedule reflects some increased and decreased fees, as well as some fees that the Office determined did not require adjustment. Under the new fee structure, the fee for online registration of a standard claim will increase from $35 to $55. However, a new online registration option for single works by single authors that are not works made for hire has been introduced at a lower fee of $35. In addition to fees for registration, related services, and special services, this final rule establishes updated fees for FOIA-related services.

The United States Copyright Office is undertaking a study at the request of Congress to assess the state of U.S. law recognizing and protecting ``making available'' and ``communication to the public'' rights for copyright holders. The Office is requesting public comments on how the existing bundle of rights under Title 17 covers the making available and communication to the public rights, how foreign laws have addressed such rights, and the feasibility and necessity of amending U.S. law to strengthen or clarify our law in this area. The Copyright Office also will hold a public roundtable to discuss these topics and to provide a forum for interested parties to address the issues raised by the comments received.

The United States Copyright Office will be holding three public meetings in connection with its project of reengineering the recordation of documents pertaining to copyrights. A Notice of Inquiry in connection with this project was published in the Federal Register on January 15, 2014, see Strategic Plan for Recordation of Documents, 79 FR 2696 (January 15, 2014), and is available at https:// www.copyright.gov/docs/recordation. Comments on that Notice of Inquiry are due by March 15, 2014. The public meetings will be held following the end of that comment period, on March 25, 2014 in Los Angeles, California; on March 26, 2014 in Santa Clara County, California; and on March 28, 2014 in New York, New York.

The United States Copyright Office is requesting public comment on proposed key elements relevant to reengineering the function of recording documents pertaining to copyright pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 205. In a separate notice that will be published soon, the Office will also announce a series of public hearings on these elements, scheduled shortly after the end of the comment period on this Notice of Inquiry. The elements have been developed with the aid of previous comments obtained during the Office's two-year Special Projects process, particularly the Special Project on Technical Upgrades to Registration and Recordation Functions. (That Project's Notice of Inquiry and the comments received in response are available at https:// www.copyright.gov/docs/technicalupgrades/.) In particular, the Office is seeking comment and holding public hearings on the following elements: (1) A guided remitter responsibility model of electronic recordation; (2) the use of structured electronic documents that contain their own indexing information; (3) the linking of recordation records to registration records; (4) the use of standard identifiers, and other metadata standards, in recorded documents and the catalog of such documents; and (5) potential additional incentives to record documents pertaining to copyrights. Further explanation of these elements is to be found below in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this Notice. The Office appreciates in particular comments from parties who record documents and the professionals who assist them in doing so; from parties experienced with electronic recordation in other areas, such as that of real property; from those who maintain databases of copyrighted works for licensing or other purposes; from those who have developed or are developing metadata standards for copyright management purposes; and from those who use the Copyright Office's catalog and collection of recorded documents for any purpose.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce the commencement of the proceeding to determine the rates and terms for the use of sound recordings in transmissions made by new subscription services and for the making of ephemeral recordings necessary for the facilitation of such transmissions for the period beginning on January 1, 2016, and ending on December 31, 2020. A party wishing to participate in this rate determination proceeding must file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee by the deadline in this notice.

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.

The U.S. Copyright Office (``Office'') is publishing a final rule establishing a fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account pursuant to Sections 112, 119, and 122 of Title 17 of the United States Code (``SOAs'') in accordance with the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 (``STELA''). The Office is establishing these SOA fees after taking into account public comments received in response to the Office's March 28, 2012 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and December 6, 2012 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (COLA) of 1% in the royalty rates satellite carriers pay for a compulsory license under the Copyright Act. The COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from October 2012 to October 2013.