[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 10, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 52782-52783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-19097]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Copyright Royalty Board

37 CFR Part 370

[Docket No. RM 2008-7]


Notice and Recordkeeping for Use of Sound Recordings Under 
Statutory License; Technical Amendment

AGENCY: Copyright Royalty Board, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: On June 21, 2016, the Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) 
published in the Federal Register a technical amendment to regulations 
that govern reporting requirements for noncommercial educational 
webcasters that pay no more than the minimum fee for their use of sound 
recordings under the applicable statutory licenses. Subsequently, 
interested parties petitioned the Judges to amend the regulations 
further to effect the Judges' stated intent. The Judges' hereby publish 
the proposed amendment and request comments to the proposed rule.

DATES: Comments are due no later than September 9, 2016.

ADDRESSES: This notice and request is also posted on the agency's Web 
site (www.loc.gov/crb) and on Regulations.gov (www.regulations.gov). 
Submit electronic comments to [email protected]. See the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section below for instructions on submitting comments in 
other formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberly Whittle at (202) 707-7658 or 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges) published a technical 
amendment to a final rule in the Federal Register to clarify that the 
reporting requirements in Part 370 that applied to ``Minimum Fee 
Broadcasters'' now apply to the more inclusive group, ``Eligible 
Minimum Fee Webcasters.'' \1\ 81 FR 40190 (Jun. 21, 2016) (emphasis 
added). The Judges added the new term ``Eligible Minimum Fee 
Webcaster'' to the definition section of 37 CFR 370.4. They also 
removed the ``Minimum Fee Broadcaster'' definition, which they deemed 
to be no longer necessary because the new definition of ``Eligible 
Minimum Fee Webcasters'' was intended to include the entities that 
qualified under the prior definition of ``Minimum Fee Broadcasters.''
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    \1\ The Judges used the term ``webcaster'' advisedly, as 
stations do not report or pay royalties for broadcasting over the 
air. They only pay for the rights to stream sound recordings over 
the Internet, or ``webcast.''
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    By adding the new term ``Eligible Minimum Fee Webcasters,'' the 
Judges intended to expand relaxed reporting requirements then available 
to Minimum Fee Broadcasters to certain nonprofit educational webcasters 
that had previously been denied those expanded relaxed reporting 
requirements.
    On June 21, 2016, the Judges received a Joint Petition of the 
National Association of Broadcasters and the National Religious 
Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee to Amend Final Rule 
Regarding Reporting Requirements (Joint Motion). The moving parties 
contended that by removing the definition of ``Minimum Fee 
Broadcaster,'' the Judges had failed to effect their intent. The moving 
parties requested that the Judges reinstate the

[[Page 52783]]

definition of ``broadcaster'' as ``an entity that owns and operates a 
terrestrial AM or FM radio station that is licensed by the Federal 
Communications Commission.'' Absent this amendment, the petitioners 
contended that noncommercial minimum fee broadcasters that were not 
educational webcasters were excluded from the new definition of 
``Eligible Minimum Fee Webcaster.''
    The Judges find that the regulation, as amended on June 21, 2016, 
defines the new term ``Eligible Minimum Fee Webcaster'' too narrowly 
and therefore arguably excludes noncommercial minimum fee broadcasters, 
a category that the Judges had intended to include.
    The Judges shall treat the Joint Motion as a petition for 
rulemaking and now propose to make the necessary changes to include 
minimum fee noncommercial broadcasters in the definition of ``Eligible 
Minimum Fee Webcasters.'' That inclusion shall ensure that 
noncommercial minimum fee broadcasters qualify fully for the relaxed 
reporting requirements in part 370.

How To Submit Comments

    Interested parties must submit comments to only one of the 
following addresses. Unless responding by email, claimants must submit 
an original, five paper copies, and an electronic version on a CD or 
other portable memory device in Portable Document Format (PDF) that 
contains searchable, accessible text (not a scanned image of text). 
Commenters should conform all filed electronic documents to the Judges' 
Guidelines for Electronic Documents posted on the Copyright Royalty 
Board Web site at http://www.loc.gov/crb/docs/Guidelines_for_Electronic_Documents.pdf. Email: [email protected]; or
    U.S. mail: Copyright Royalty Board, P.O. Box 70977, Washington, DC 
20024-0977; or
    Overnight service (only USPS Express Mail is acceptable): Copyright 
Royalty Board, P.O. Box 70977, Washington, DC 20024-0977; or
    Commercial courier: Address package to: Copyright Royalty Board, 
Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial Building, LM-403, 101 
Independence Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20559-6000. Deliver to: 
Congressional Courier Acceptance Site, 2nd Street NE., and D Street 
NE., Washington, DC; or
    Hand delivery: Library of Congress, James Madison Memorial 
Building, LM-401, 101 Independence Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20559-
6000.

List of Subjects in 37 CFR 370

    Copyright, Sound recordings.

Proposed Regulations

    In consideration of the foregoing, the Copyright Royalty Judges 
propose to amend 37 CFR part 370 as follows:

PART 370--NOTICE AND RECORDKEEPING REQUIREMENTS FOR STATUTORY 
LICENSES

0
1. The authority citation for part 370 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 17 U.S.C. 112(e)(4), 114(f)(4)(A).

0
2. In Sec.  370.4, in paragraph (b), revise the definition of 
``Eligible Minimum Fee Webcaster'' to read as follows:


Sec.  370.4  Reports of use of sound recordings under statutory license 
for nonsubscription transmission services, preexisting satellite 
digital audio radio services, new subscription services and business 
establishment services.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    Eligible Minimum Fee Webcaster means a nonsubscription transmission 
service whose payments for eligible transmissions do not exceed the 
annual minimum fee established for licensees relying upon the statutory 
licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. 112(e) and 114; and:
    (i) Is a Licensee that owns and operates a terrestrial AM or FM 
radio station that is licensed by the Federal Communications 
Commission; or
    (ii) Is directly operated by, or affiliated with and officially 
sanctioned by, a domestically accredited primary or secondary school, 
college, university, or other post-secondary degree-granting 
institution; and
    (A) The digital audio transmission operations of which are, during 
the course of the year, staffed substantially by students enrolled in 
such institution;
    (B) Is exempt from taxation under section 501 of the Internal 
Revenue Code, has applied for such exemption, or is operated by a State 
or possession or any governmental entity or subordinate thereof, or by 
the United States or District of Columbia, for exclusively public 
purposes; and
    (C) Is not a ``public broadcasting entity'' (as defined in 17 
U.S.C. 118(f)) qualified to receive funding from the Corporation for 
Public Broadcasting pursuant to the criteria set forth in 47 U.S.C. 396
* * * * *

    Dated: July 28, 2016.
Suzanne M. Barnett,
Chief Copyright Royalty Judge.
[FR Doc. 2016-19097 Filed 8-8-16; 11:15 am]
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