IP Law Daily, COPYRIGHT NEWS: Royalty Judges set rates and terms for noncommercial educational webcasters, (Sep 28, 2015)

By Thomas Long, J.D.

The Copyright Royalty Judges have published final regulations that set the rates and terms for the digital performances of sound recordings by certain noncommercial educational webcasters 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 Judges found that an agreement reached voluntarily between SoundExchange, Inc., and College Broadcasters, Inc. (CBI) established a reasonable basis for setting the relevant terms and rates, and they adopted proposed regulations that codified the agreement, with the exception of a provision that would identify SoundExchange as the designated Collective for the upcoming license period.

The proceeding at issue involved certain Internet transmissions by college radio stations and other noncommercial webcasters. SoundExchange and CBI reached an agreement with regard to rates and terms under Sections 112(e) and 114 of the Copyright Act for eligible nonsubscription transmissions by noncommercial educational webcasters (NEWs) over the internet, and related ephemeral recordings. Under the proposals put forth in the agreement—which were adopted by the Judges after a public comment period—an eligible NEW will pay a $500 annual fee for each of the individual channels, side channels, or stations through which it makes eligible transmissions. The $500 fee would also serve as the minimum fee for eligible NEWs. All other NEWs would pay the royalties established under 37 C.F.R. Part 380 Subpart A applicable to noncommercial webcasters.

To qualify for these rates, a NEW’s total monthly per channel or per station transmissions must remain below 159,140 aggregate tuning hours. If a NEW’s transmissions exceed that threshold, the NEW must pay royalties for the relevant month, and for the remainder of the relevant year, in accordance with the otherwise applicable noncommercial rates, to be determined later.

Commercial webcasters are required to make detailed, census reports of all sound recordings they transmit. NEWs with limited listenership may pay a designated Collective a proxy fee to avoid the burden of census reporting. The Judges noted that SoundExchange has served as the Collective since the Judges issued their first webcasting determination, and SoundExchange has never been challenged based on its organizational status or activities. However, the Judges declined to adopt at this point the proposed definition of ‘‘Collective’’ in the settlement that expressly designated SoundExchange. Designation of the Collective is an issue that the Judges will decide in the final determination. Therefore, the Judges deferred designation of the Collective for the upcoming licensing period until the conclusion of the proceeding.

News: Copyright TechnologyInternet