[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 3, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60333-60334]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24321]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Office

37 CFR Part 201

[Docket No. 2012-5]


Verification of Statements of Account Submitted by Cable 
Operators and Satellite Carriers

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of reply comment 
period.

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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is again extending the deadline for 
filing reply comments in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
concerning the verification of Statements of Account and royalty 
payments that are deposited with the Office by cable operators and 
satellite carriers.

DATES: Reply comments on the proposed rule published at 77 FR 35643, 
June 14, 2012, must be received in the Office of the General Counsel of 
the Copyright Office no later than 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) 
on October 24, 2012.

ADDRESSES: The Copyright Office strongly prefers that comments be 
submitted electronically. A comment submission page is posted on the 
Copyright Office Web site at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/soaaudit/. 
The Web site interface requires submitters to complete a form 
specifying name and other required information, and to upload comments 
as an attachment. To meet accessibility standards, all comments must be 
uploaded in a single file 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 document). The maximum file size is 6 megabytes 
(MB). The name of the submitter and organization should appear on both 
the form and the face of the comments. All comments will be posted 
publicly on the Copyright Office Web site exactly as they are received, 
along with names and organizations if provided. If electronic 
submission of comments is not feasible, please contact the Copyright 
Office at (202) 707-8380 for special instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tanya Sandros, Deputy General Counsel, 
or Erik Bertin, Attorney Advisor, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, 
Washington, DC 20024. Telephone: (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-
8366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 14, 2012, the Copyright Office 
published 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 Copyright Office under Sections 111 
and 119 of the Copyright Act. The Office received comments on the 
proposed regulation from groups representing copyright owners, cable 
operators, and satellite carriers, which have been posted on the 
Copyright Office Web site at http://www.copyright.gov/docs/soaaudit/comments/index.html. The notice of proposed rulemaking stated that 
reply comments would be due on September 12, 2012. See 77 FR 35643, 
June 14, 2012.
    On August 24, 2012, the Office received a joint motion to extend 
the reply comment period (posted on the Office Web site at: http://www.copyright.gov/docs/soaaudit/soa_audit.html), which was filed by 
the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (``NCTA''),\1\ the 
Joint Sports Claimants, and the Program Suppliers.\2\ The moving 
parties asked the Office to extend the deadline for reply comments 
until October 3, 2012 in order to determine whether they agree on any 
aspects of the proposed regulation, which in turn, may narrow the 
issues that need to be resolved in this rulemaking. The Office granted 
the moving parties' request, stating that reply comments would be due 
by October 3, 2012, as requested. See 77 FR 55783 (Sept. 11, 2012).
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    \1\ The NCTA is a trade association that represents cable 
operators. Many of the NCTA's members file Statements of Account 
with and pay royalties to the Copyright Office under the statutory 
license set forth in Section 111 of the Copyright Act, which allows 
them to retransmit television and radio programs that are embodied 
in local distant broadcast transmissions.
    \2\ Both the Joint Sports Claimants and the Program Suppliers 
represent copyright owners who are the beneficiaries of the 
royalties that are paid under the Section 111 and 119 statutory 
licenses. Generally speaking, the Joint Sports Claimants represent 
copyright owners that produce professional and college sports 
programming, while the Program Suppliers represent copyright owners 
that produce and/or syndicate movies, programs, and specials that 
are broadcast by television stations.
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    On September 26, 2012 the NCTA, the Joint Sports Claimants, and the 
Program Suppliers filed a second motion to extend the reply comment 
period for another three weeks (posted on the Office Web site at: 
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/soaaudit/soa_audit.html). Specifically, 
the moving parties asked the Office to extend the deadline for reply 
comments until October 24, 2012. In support of their latest motion,

[[Page 60334]]

the moving parties stated that they have discussed the proposed 
regulation, but given the complexity of the issues involved, they need 
more time to complete their discussions and to prepare a joint set of 
reply comments (assuming they are able to reach an agreement). The 
moving parties stated that a three week extension would facilitate 
these discussions without causing harm to any interested person.
    In their initial motion, the NCTA, the Joint Sports Claimants, and 
the Program Suppliers asked the Office to extend the deadline for reply 
comments until October 3rd, indicating that this would give them a 
sufficient amount of time to discuss the proposed regulation and to 
reach an agreement ``regarding procedures to be presented to the Office 
as part of the reply comments.'' Having granted that request, the 
Office is reluctant to extend the deadline further. But in the interest 
of giving the NCTA, the Joint Sports Claimants, the Program Suppliers, 
and any other interested parties an opportunity to wrap-up their 
discussions, and if possible, to prepare a joint recommendation on the 
proposed regulation, the Office has decided to grant the stakeholders' 
request and extend the deadline for filing reply comments by another 
three weeks, making reply comments due by October 24, 2012. Further 
extensions will not be granted.

    Dated: September 27, 2012.
Maria A. Pallante,
Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 2012-24321 Filed 10-2-12; 8:45 am]
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