[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 89 (Monday, May 9, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26769-26771]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11224]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
[Docket No. 2010-4]
Federal Copyright Protection of Sound Recordings Fixed Before
February 15, 1972
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office will host a public meeting to discuss the
desirability and means of bringing sound recordings fixed before
February 15, 1972 under Federal jurisdiction. The meeting will provide
a forum, in the form of a roundtable discussion, for interested parties
to address the legal, policy, and factual questions raised so far
regarding pre-1972 sound recordings. It will take place on June 2 and
3, 2011 at the Copyright Office in Washington, DC. In order to
participate in the meeting, interested parties should submit a request
via the Copyright Office Web site.
DATES: The public meeting will take place on Thursday, June 2, 2011
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday, June 3, 2011 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Requests for participation must be received in the Office of the
General Counsel of the Copyright Office no later than Monday, May 16,
2011 at 5 p.m. E.D.T.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will take place in the Copyright Office
Hearing Room, Room LM-408 of the Madison Building of the Library of
Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE., Washington, DC. The Copyright
Office strongly prefers that requests for participation be submitted
electronically. A public meeting page containing a request form is
posted on the Copyright Office Web site at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/. Persons who are unable to submit a request electronically
should contact Attorney-Advisor Chris Weston at 202-707-8380.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David O. Carson, General Counsel, or
Chris Weston, Attorney-Advisor, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400,
Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-
8366.
[[Page 26770]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Congress has directed the U.S. Copyright Office to conduct a study
on the desirability and means of bringing sound recordings fixed before
February 15, 1972 under Federal jurisdiction. Currently, such sound
recordings are protected under a patchwork of state statutory and
common laws from their date of creation until 2067. The legislation
mandating this study states that it is to:
cover the effect of federal coverage on the preservation of such
sound recordings, the effect on public access to those recordings,
and the economic impact of federal coverage on rights holders. The
study is also to examine the means for accomplishing such coverage.
H.R. 1105, Public Law 111-8 [Legislative Text and Explanatory
Statement] 1769.
On November 3, 2010, the U.S. Copyright Office published a Notice
of Inquiry seeking comments on the question of bringing pre-1972 sound
recordings under Federal jurisdiction. 75 FR 67777 (November 3, 2010).
The notice provided background as to why state law protection of pre-
1972 sound recordings has not been preempted, unlike state law
protection of other kinds of potentially copyrightable works. It also
discussed the belief of some in the library and archives community that
the absence of a Federal protection scheme for sound recordings has
impeded the preservation and public availability of these recordings.
In an attempt to understand the various effects that federalizing
protection for pre-1972 sound recordings might have, the notice posed
30 specific questions to commenters regarding preservation and access,
economic impact, term of protection, constitutional considerations, and
other aspects of federalization.
The Copyright Office received 58 comments in response to its
inquiry, along with 231 copies of a form letter. The Office
subsequently received 17 reply comments. All comments, along with the
notice of inquiry, are available at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/. The comments ran the gamut from general policy arguments to
proposals for new legislative language and, as anticipated, illuminate
a variety of experiences and perspectives. Some comments raised new
legal questions, and others deepened the Office's understanding of the
number and variety of pre-1972 sound recordings at issue. The Copyright
Office is holding a public meeting in order to permit interested
parties to present their views and discuss areas of agreement and
disagreement through a roundtable discussion.
Requests for Participation
The Office has divided up the topics it wishes to discuss into nine
sessions--five on June 2, 2011 and four on June 3, 2011--and briefly
describes them below. These descriptions only note the major issues for
each session and do not necessarily list every subject appropriate for
discussion.
Day 1, Session 1--Assessing the Landscape: What are the legal and
cultural difficulties--as well as benefits--attributable to state law
protection of pre-1972 sound recordings?
Day 1, Session 2--Availability of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings: What
is the true extent of public availability of pre-1972 sound recordings?
In relation to the overall availability of such recordings, how
significant are rights-holder reissue programs and recent donations to
the Library of Congress?
Day 1, Session 3--Effects of Federalization on Preservation,
Access, and Value: What benefits would federalization have with respect
to preservation of and public access to pre-1972 sound recordings? Are
those benefits quantifiable (i.e., in economic or cultural terms)? How
would federalization affect the economic and cultural value of pre-1972
sound recordings? Are such effects quantifiable?
Day 1, Session 4--Effects of Federalization on Ownership and
Business Expectations: What effects would federalization have with
respect to ownership status, publication status, contracts, termination
rights, registration requirements, and other business aspects of pre-
1972 sound recordings? To what extent would these results depend on the
manner in which federalization might be effected?
Day 1, Session 5--Effects of Federalization on Statutory Licensing:
As a matter of logic, policy, and law, should pre-1972 sound recordings
be eligible for the section 114 statutory license? Can and should they
be subject to the section 114 statutory license if they are not
otherwise brought into the Federal statutory scheme?
Day 2, Session 1--Term of Protection: Assuming that copyright
protection for pre-1972 sound recordings is federalized, what are the
best options for the term of protection of federalized pre-1972 sound
recordings? Should pre-1923 recordings be considered separately? What
about unpublished recordings? If federalized pre-1972 sound recordings
are given shorter terms than they had under state law, should term
extensions be offered as an incentive to rights-holders who make their
recordings publicly available within a specified period of time?
Day 2, Session 2--Constitutional Considerations: Is it appropriate
to grant Federal copyright protection to works already created, fixed,
and in some cases published? Are there circumstances under which
federalization of pre-1972 sound recordings would effect a ``taking''
under the Fifth Amendment? If so, how could this be addressed in the
legislation?
Day 2, Session 3--Alternatives to Federalization: What alternatives
to federalization, if any, should be considered and why?
Day 2, Session 4--Summing Up: In light of this public meeting and
of the comments received, please sum up your views on (1) whether pre-
1972 sound recordings should be brought within the protection of
Federal copyright law and (2) in the case of federalization, what
adaptations to existing law would be necessary or advisable.
Requests to participate should be submitted online at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sound/. The online form asks for the requestor's
name, organization, title, postal mailing address, telephone number,
fax number, and an e-mail address, although not all of the information
is required. The requestor should also indicate, in order of
preference, the sessions in which the requestor wishes to participate.
Depending upon the level of interest, the Copyright Office may not be
able to seat every participant in every session he or she requests, so
it is helpful to know which topics are most important to each
participant. In addition, please note that while an organization may
bring multiple representatives, only one person per organization may
participate in a particular session. A different person from the same
organization may, of course, participate in another session.
Requestors who have already submitted a comment, or who will be
representing an organization that has submitted a comment, are asked to
identify their comments on the request form. Requestors who have not
submitted comments should include a brief summary of their views on the
topics they wish to discuss, either directly on the request form or as
an attachment. To meet accessibility standards, all attachments must be
uploaded in either the Adobe Portable Document File (PDF) format that
contains searchable, accessible text (not an image); Microsoft Word;
WordPerfect; Rich Text Format (RTF); or ASCII text file format (not a
scanned
[[Page 26771]]
document). The name of the submitter and organization (if any) should
appear on both the form and the face of any attachments.
Nonparticipants who wish to attend and observe the discussion
should note that seating is limited and, for nonparticipants, will be
available on a first come, first served basis.
Dated: May 4, 2011.
Maria A. Pallante,
Acting Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 2011-11224 Filed 5-6-11; 8:45 am]
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