[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 3 (Wednesday, January 6, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 578-581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-29231]


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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

 Copyright Office

[Docket No. 2020-13]


Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 
2019 Study: Notice and Request for Public Comment

AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.

ACTION: Notice of Inquiry.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Copyright Office is initiating a study to evaluate 
the impact on the satellite television market of the Satellite 
Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019's adoption of 
new statutory requirements for certain uses of the section 119 
compulsory license for distant-into-local satellite transmission, and 
sunsetting of other uses from the license. The Office seeks public 
comment on this topic to assist in preparing a report to Congress.

DATES: Written comments are due on or before March 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: The Copyright Office is using the regulations.gov system for 
the submission and posting of public comments in this proceeding. All 
comments are therefore to be submitted electronically through 
regulations.gov. Specific instructions are available on the Copyright 
Office website at http://www.copyright.gov/policy/119. If electronic 
submission of comments is not feasible due to lack of access to a 
computer and/or the internet, please contact the Office, using the 
contact information below, for special instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberley Isbell, Deputy Director of 
Policy and International Affairs, [email protected], or Chris 
Weston, Senior Counsel for Policy and International Affairs, 
[email protected]. They can be reached by telephone at 202-707-3000.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On December 20, 2019, the President signed 
the Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 2019 
(``STCPPA''), which makes permanent the satellite carrier distant 
broadcast

[[Page 579]]

signal license found in section 119 of the Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. 
119) for non-network stations as well as for network stations 
transmitted both to recreational vehicles (``RVs'') and commercial 
trucks and to ``short markets'' that lack one or more of the four most 
widely available network stations.\1\ The STCPPA removes other 
previously permitted uses of the license and requires that a satellite 
carrier provide local service in all 210 designated market areas 
(``DMAs'') if it wishes to utilize the section 119 license.\2\ The 
STCPPA also amends several provisions of the Communications Act.\3\
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    \1\ Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act 
of 2019 (``STCPPA''), Public Law 116-94, 133 Stat. 2534, 3201 
(2019).
    \2\ The STCPPA contained a transition provision that allowed 
satellite carriers who had been utilizing the license but did not 
satisfy the additional conditions set forth in the STCCPA to 
continue to use a limited version of the existing license through 
May 31, 2020. That transitional authorization has now expired. See 
infra Section I.B.
    \3\ 47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.
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    Simultaneously with the enactment of the STCPPA, the Appropriations 
Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives directed the Register of 
Copyrights to conduct a study on the impact of the expiration of the 
STCPPA's predecessor--the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 
(``STELAR'') \4\--on the satellite television market.\5\ The Committee 
expressed concern that the distant signal provisions of section 119 
``may provide a below-market incentive for a mature satellite industry 
to restrict local news transmission.'' \6\
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    \4\ STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014, Public Law 113-200, 128 
Stat. 2059 (2014).
    \5\ Staff of H.R. Comm. on Appropriations, 116th Cong., Further 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Legislative Text and 
Explanatory Statement (Comm. Print 2020). While STCPPA made 
permanent several provisions of STELAR, it also allowed other 
provisions to expire.
    \6\ Id.
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I. Background

A. The Section 119 Distant Broadcast Signal License

    In 1988, Congress enacted the Satellite Home Viewer Act 
(``SHVA''),\7\ which created a temporary statutory license (section 119 
of the Copyright Act) for satellite carriers to retransmit distant 
network and certain non-network broadcasts to subscribers with 
satellite dishes. Distant network retransmissions were available only 
to those subscribers living in ``unserved households.'' \8\ This 
statutory license, also known as a compulsory license, allowed 
satellite carriers to retransmit broadcast signals without the 
network's permission, so long as they paid a government-determined 
royalty rate.\9\ The section 119 license was intended to encourage 
satellite carriers to ``develop and flourish'' in the absence of a 
sufficient marketplace \10\ and was scheduled to expire at the end of 
1994.\11\
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    \7\ Public Law 100-667, 102 Stat. 3949.
    \8\ For purposes of the Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1988, 
``unserved households'' were defined as households of individuals 
who live in an area where they cannot receive a ``Grade B'' 
television signal via a rooftop antenna, and have not, at the time 
they become subscribers to a satellite service that carries a 
network signal, subscribed within 90 days to a cable system that 
provides the signal of a station affiliated with that network. See 
U.S. Copyright Office, The Cable and Satellite Carrier Compulsory 
Licenses: An Overview and Analysis 104-05 (1992), https://copyright.gov/reports/cable-sat-licenses1992.pdf. The section 119 
definitions of ``unserved households'' evolved as the license was 
extended over the subsequent 26 years.
    \9\ The Copyright Office has, since 1989, administered the 
section 119 license, which includes collecting statements of account 
and royalties from satellite carriers and distributing the royalties 
to the appropriate rights holders. See Statutory License for 
Secondary Transmissions for Satellite Carriers-- Section 119, U.S. 
Copyright Office, https://www.copyright.gov/licensing/sec_119.html.
    \10\ H.R. Rep. No. 887, 100th Cong., 2d Sess., pt. 1, at 15 
(1988). See also H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 5 (2019) (``Congress 
created the section 119 license during the satellite industry's 
nascency to allow satellite television to better compete with 
cable.'').
    \11\ Public Law 100-667, 102 Stat. 3949, 3960.
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    The section 119 license created by SHVA was extended for successive 
five year periods in 1994,\12\ 1999,\13\ 2004,\14\ 2010,\15\ and 
2014.\16\ With each extension, Congress also modified the statutory 
terms of the section 119 license. For example, by the time of the 2014 
enactment of STELAR, there were multiple types of unserved households 
eligible to receive distant broadcast signals defined in the statute, 
including RVs, commercial trucks, and households in ``short markets'' 
(markets where one of the four most viewed networks is not available 
from the local carrier).
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    \12\ Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1994, Public Law 103-369, 108 
Stat. 3477 (1994).
    \13\ Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999 (``SHVIA''), 
Public Law 106-113, 113 Stat. 1501A-523 (1999).
    \14\ Satellite Home Viewer Extension and Reauthorization Act of 
2004 (``SHVERA''), Public Law 108-447, 118 Stat. 3394 (2004).
    \15\ Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010 
(``STELA''), Public Law 111-174, 124 Stat. 1218 (2010).
    \16\ STELAR, Public Law 113-200, 128 Stat. 2059 (2014).
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    In the five years following STELAR's reauthorization of the section 
119 license, use of that license sharply decreased. Royalties paid by 
one of the two satellite carriers in this market, AT&T's DirecTV, 
decreased by 86.75% between 2014 and 2018.\17\ Royalties paid by the 
other satellite carrier, DISH Network, decreased by 85% during the same 
reporting period.\18\ In terms of gross numbers, as of 2019, between 
500,000 and 870,000 households received at least one distant signal 
under the pre-STCPPA section 119 license.\19\ It is estimated that 
these subscribers typically live in rural areas of the United 
States.\20\
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    \17\ See U.S. Copyright Office, Analysis and Recommendations 
Regarding the Section 119 Compulsory License 2 (June 3, 2019), 
https://www.copyright.gov/laws/hearings/views-concerning-section-119-compulsory-license.pdf.
    \18\ See id. Since the 2018 reporting periods, satellite 
receipts have further declined. According to information from the 
U.S. Copyright Office's Licensing Division, total satellite receipts 
in 2019 were down 20.8% from 2018, and total satellite receipts for 
the first half of 2020 were down 20% from the first half of 2019. 
See Licensing Division, U.S. Copyright Office, Report of Receipts 
10/31/2020, 2, https://www.copyright.gov/licensing/receipts.pdf.
    \19\ The 500,000 subscribers estimate is from the National 
Association of Broadcasters. See Narrow Satellite Legislation Should 
Expire as Congress Intended, Nat'l Ass'n of Broadcasters, 2 (Sept. 
2018), http://www.nab.org/documents/newsRoom/pdfs/NAB_STELAR_expiration.pdf. The 870,000 subscribers estimate is from 
the Satellite Broadcasting and Communications Association. See 
Reauthorize and Revitalize the Satellite Home Viewer Act, Satellite 
Broad. & Commc'ns Ass'n, 1 (last visited Nov. 30, 2020), http://www.sbca.org/documents/Rural_Sat_Act.pdf. The number of subscribers 
who receive distant signals under the current license is not 
publicly available.
    \20\ See H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 4 (2019); Letter from Timothy 
P. McKone, Executive Vice President, Federal Relations, AT&T, to 
Jerrold Nadler, Chairman, and Doug Collins, Ranking Member, U.S. 
House of Representatives, Comm. on the Judiciary 1 (Apr. 19, 2019), 
https://www.copyright.gov/laws/hearings/views-concerning-section-119-compulsory-license.pdf.
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    This decline in use of the section 119 license has been attributed 
primarily to the transformation of the television marketplace since 
2014, which is exemplified by ``over-the-top'' (``OTT'') television 
services that offer broadcast network programming over the internet, 
such as Hulu with Live TV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV, none of which rely 
upon a statutory license to operate but instead negotiate licenses with 
broadcast networks in the marketplace.\21\
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    \21\ See H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 6 (2019); U.S. Copyright 
Office, Analysis and Recommendations Regarding the Section 119 
Compulsory License 2 (June 3, 2019), https://www.copyright.gov/laws/hearings/views-concerning-section-119-compulsory-license.pdf.
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B. The Satellite Television Community Protection and Promotion Act of 
2019

    With STELAR due to expire at the end of 2019, and with it the 
section 119 compulsory license, Congress had to decide whether to 
extend the license again, and, if so, whether the extension should be 
for another fixed-year term. Congress decided not to reauthorize 
several of the uses of the license and to

[[Page 580]]

make others permanent. Specifically, in the STCPPA,\22\ Congress 
removed coverage of the following ``unserved households'' from the 
section 119 distant network signal license:
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    \22\ STCPPA, Public Law 16-94, 133 Stat. 2534, 3201 (2019).
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     Households that cannot receive a local over-the-air signal 
via an antenna; \23\
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    \23\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(A) (text repealed and replaced by 
Public Law 116-94, 133 Stat. 2534, 3201 (2019)).
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     Households that receive a waiver from a local network 
affiliate to receive a distant signal; \24\
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    \24\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(B) (text repealed and replaced by 
Public Law 116-94, 133 Stat. 2534, 3201 (2019)).
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     ``Grandfathered'' households that received distant signals 
via a section 119 license on or before October 31, 1999; \25\ and
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    \25\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(C) (repealed 2019).
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     Households eligible for the statutory exemption related to 
receiving ``C-Band'' satellite signals.\26\
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    \26\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(E) (repealed 2019).

For a satellite carrier to transmit distant signals to these 
households, it must now negotiate directly with the broadcaster for a 
license.
    Additionally, the STCPPA made availability of the section 119 
license for transmission of distant network signals permanent for the 
following ``unserved households'':\27\
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    \27\ The STCPPA also made permanent the section 119 license for 
transmission of distant non-network signals to all subscribers. See 
17 U.S.C. 119(a)(1).
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     RVs and commercial trucks; \28\ and
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    \28\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(A).
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     Subscribers located in short markets.\29\
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    \29\ 17 U.S.C. 119(d)(10)(B).

The STCPPA made the use of the section 119 license for these purposes 
contingent upon satellite carriers providing local-into-local network 
signals to each of the 210 television designated market areas 
(``DMAs'').\30\ It also established a transition period (through May 
31, 2020) during which subscribers covered under STELAR who were no 
longer eligible for the new license (as amended by the STCPPA) remained 
eligible to receive distant network signals from their satellite 
carriers.\31\
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    \30\ See 17 U.S.C. 119(a)(2)(A); (f)(7).
    \31\ Public Law 116-94, 133 Stat. 3203 (2019).
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    In amending section 119, Congress was particularly concerned with 
satellite subscribers' ability to access local network stations. As the 
House Judiciary Committee described the situation in its STCPPA Report:

    Most satellite television subscribers receive local broadcast 
programming that is retransmitted from their local network stations. 
When a satellite carrier provides such ``local service,'' 
subscribers have access to important local news, local weather, and 
local emergency information. For some (typically rural) subscribers, 
instead of seeing news, weather, or emergency information from their 
own towns, they get retransmissions of ``distant'' programming from 
outside of their local market. Those subscribers see network 
programming from a larger, sometimes much farther, market like New 
York or Los Angeles instead.\32\
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    \32\ H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 4 (2019).

In other words, Congress believed that the section 119 license, 
operating under government-set royalty rates, risked undermining rural 
communities' access to local broadcast stations because it encouraged 
satellite carriers to carry distant-into-local instead of local-into-
local broadcast signals.
    In light of that concern, Congress sought in the STCPPA to account 
for ``the need to prioritize access to local programming'' \33\ by 
requiring every satellite carrier using the section 119 license to 
provide local network television service in all of the 210 DMAs. 
Additionally, by removing several household types from coverage under 
section 119, Congress believed that these households would be more 
likely to receive local instead of distant network signals.\34\ 
Congress also ``acknowledge[d] the vulnerabilities that some households 
might face in a purely market-based system'' \35\ by reauthorizing and 
making permanent the section 119 license for RVs and commercial trucks 
and households in short markets.
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    \33\ H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 6 (2019).
    \34\ H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 7 (2019).
    \35\ H.R. Rep. No. 116-354, at 6 (2019).
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C. The Current Study

    In its Committee Print accompanying the Further Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2020, the Committee on Appropriations of the U.S. 
House of Representatives, in agreement with the U.S. Senate, expressed 
a ``concern that the distant signal provision contained in the STELA 
Reauthorization Act of 2014 [``STELAR''] . . . may provide a below-
market incentive for a mature satellite industry to restrict local news 
transmission.'' \36\ The statement went on to recognize that STELAR was 
due to expire at the end of 2019, and directed the Register of 
Copyrights to ``conduct a study on the impact on the market post-
expiration,'' and deliver the results of this study to the House and 
Senate Committees on Appropriations by June 20, 2021.\37\
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    \36\ Staff of H.R. Comm. on Appropriations, 116th Cong., Further 
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Legislative Text and 
Explanatory Statement(Comm. Print 2020).
    \37\ Id.
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    Pursuant to this direction, the U.S. Copyright Office is seeking 
public comment via this notice, as well as via a separate questionnaire 
that will be directed to ``unserved household'' subscribers both 
previously and currently covered by the section 119 license. A copy of 
this questionnaire is available at http://www.copyright.gov/policy/119. 
The questions in this notice are divided as to who should answer them, 
based upon the different stakeholders in the section 119 satellite 
television ecosystem. The overall aim of these questions is to 
ascertain (a) whether the STCPPA appropriately incentivizes satellite 
carriers to provide local network signals to their residential 
subscribers and (b) the impact of the changes to the section 119 
license on RVers and commercial truckers.

II. Subjects of Inquiry

    The Copyright Office invites written comments on the subjects 
below. A party choosing to respond to this Notice of Inquiry need not 
address every subject, but the Office requests that responding parties 
clearly identify and separately address each subject for which a 
response is submitted.
1. General Questions
    a. Post-STCPPA, do households that previously did not receive local 
network stations from their satellite provider now receive them?
    b. The STCPPA removed the use of the section 119 license for 
households that are unable to receive local network stations via an 
antenna, as well as for certain other categories of households. How do 
these households now receive network signals? Are they distant or local 
network signals?
    c. The STCPPA makes a revised section 119 license permanent, on the 
condition that all licensees provide local-into-local service. Does 
this change resolve previously-voiced concerns about a subsidized 
distant-into-local license discouraging the provision of local network 
service by section 119 licensees?
    d. Have the changes to the section 119 license made by STCPPA 
affected the availability of network retransmission service for 
households previously covered by the license? If so, how?
    e. Have the changes to the section 119 license made by STCPPA 
affected the market for television service for households previously 
covered by the license? If so, how?

[[Page 581]]

2. Questions for Satellite Television Subscribers in Unserved 
Households.38
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    \38\ Households in unserved markets are households in one or 
more of the following categories:
     Households that cannot receive a local over-the-air 
signal via an antenna;
     Households that receive a waiver from a local network 
affiliate to receive a distant signal;
     ``Grandfathered'' households that received distant 
signals via a section 119 license on or before October 31, 1999;
     Households eligible for the statutory exemption related 
to receiving ``C-Band'' satellite signals;
     RVs and commercial trucks;
     Households located in short markets (meaning markets 
that lack one or more of the four most widely available network 
stations).
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    When answering, please indicate if you receive satellite service at 
your residence, your RV, or your commercial truck. Please also indicate 
which category of ``unserved household'' applies to you.
    a. Before June 1, 2020, did you receive distant network 
retransmissions (i.e., network stations from markets outside of your 
local area) from DISH or DirecTV?
    i. If your answer is ``yes,'' did you continue to receive the same 
distant networks after June 1, 2020?
    (1) If you continued to receive the same distant networks, did the 
price of your subscription increase or decrease? If it did, was the 
reason for the change explained?
    (2) If you did not continue to receive the same distant networks 
after June 1, 2020, did you receive access to new networks that are 
physically closer to you as a replacement for the distant networks you 
no longer receive? Did the price of your subscription increase or 
decrease? If it did, was the reason for the change explained?
    ii. If your answer is ``no,'' did the price of your satellite 
subscription increase or decrease on or after June 1, 2020? If it did, 
was the reason for the change explained?
    b. Before June 1, 2020, did you receive local network 
retransmissions (i.e., network stations from a nearby market) from DISH 
or DirecTV?
    i. If your answer is ``yes,'' did you continue to receive local 
networks from DISH or DirecTV on or after June 1, 2020?
    (1) If you continued to receive local networks, did the price of 
your subscription increase or decrease? If it did, was the reason for 
the change explained?
    (2) If you did not continue to receive local networks, did you 
receive access to replacement networks? Were these replacement networks 
physically closer to or further from your location? Did the price of 
your subscription increase or decrease? If it did, was the reason for 
the change explained?
    c. If you received distant network retransmissions from DISH or 
DirecTV before June 1, 2020, did you begin to receive local network 
retransmissions from DISH or DirecTV on or after that date?
    i. If you did begin to receive local networks on or after June 1, 
2020, were the local networks in addition to or instead of the distant 
network retransmissions?
    ii. If you did begin to receive local networks on or after June 1, 
2020, did the price of your subscription increase or decrease?
    d. Have you changed television service providers since June 1, 
2020?
    i. If your answer is ``yes,'' did you change to a different 
satellite provider, or did you obtain television service from a 
different type of service provider (such as a cable provider)? Why did 
you change television service providers?
    e. If you are a commercial trucker, which satellite carrier do you 
use?
    f. If you are an RVer, which satellite carrier do you use? Do you 
also receive satellite service at your residence? If so, is your home 
satellite carrier the same as your RV satellite carrier?

3. Questions for Satellite Carriers

    a. If you relied upon the section 119 statutory license to provide 
distant-into-local network retransmissions before June 1, 2020, did you 
continue to rely upon the amended license (under the STCPPA) on or 
after that date?
    i. If your answer is ``no,'' did you continue to provide distant-
into-local network retransmissions after that date?
    b. Do you meet the new STCPPA requirement of providing local-into-
local network retransmissions to all 210 DMAs as a prerequisite for 
using the new section 119 statutory license to provide distant-into-
local network retransmissions?
    i. If your answer is ``no,'' what approach did you take to 
providing distant-into-local network retransmissions after May 31, 
2020?
    ii. If you declined to provide local-into-local network 
retransmissions for all 210 DMAs, thus forgoing the use of the section 
119 license, and instead decided to make individual carriage deals with 
each broadcast network for distant-into-local retransmission, please 
explain your reasoning.
    c. Did you use the transition license provided by the STCPPA from 
January 1, 2020 to May 31, 2020?
    i. If your answer is ``no,'' please explain why you did not use the 
transition license.
    ii. If you did use the transition license, did you use the new 
STCPPA license after May 31, 2020? If not, why not?

4. Question for Broadcasters

    a. Has the expiration of certain provisions of the section 119 
license impacted your ability to provide comparable television service 
to households previously subject to the section 119 license? If so, 
how?

    Dated: December 30, 2020.
Shira Perlmutter,
Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office.
[FR Doc. 2020-29231 Filed 1-5-21; 8:45 am]
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