Slashdot reported, “The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) today announced its intent to file a court appeal of the June 20 decision by the Librarian of Congress on royalty rates for Internet radio. The notice of intent will be officially filed with the DC Circuit Court later today, the deadline for all parties to alert the court whether they intend to appeal. Actual briefs will be filed later in the year.
“The RIAA intends to argue that the Librarian’s interpretation of the deal with Yahoo! was incorrect, and that the Librarian improperly threw out 140 licensing deals that the record companies and RIAA signed with webcasters and other similiar companies…”
You can read the full RIAA press release here
But meanwhile… “In a last-ditch effort to protect smaller Webcasters from what they describe as unfair royalty obligations, three influential U.S Congressmen on Friday introduced the “Internet Radio Fairness Act,” a new law seeking to change existing Web radio laws…” Linked_Word to read the full story at SiliconValley.Internet.com.
Highlights of the “Internet Radio Fairness Act” include:
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Small businesses (six million dollars in gross revenue) will be exempted from the CARP fees for web radio. The royalty ruling, which was accepted by the Library of Congress, would stand for larger Web radio providers.
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All future CARP processes must change the royalty rate standard from the “willing-buyer/willing-seller” to the “traditional” standard that was enacted by the 1976 Copyright Act. Royalty payments for the small businesses that have been exempted from the current CARP decision will be calculated using the traditional standard, and rolled into the next CARP.
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Small businesses will be exempted from the payment requirement for participation in future CARP proceedings. During the most recent arbitration process, all participants were forced to pay an equal share of the total costs, forcing many small businesses out of the process.
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All future CARPs must eliminate fees for temporary recordings (”ephemeral recordings”) that Web radio broadcasters create to facilitate the transmission of the song to users. “The Registrar of Copyrights has determined that these temporary recordings have no independent economic value, and should not be subject to a separate royalty payment,” the Congressmen argued. Broadcasters should not be charged for temporary storage files that listeners never hear and which are not saved.
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All future CARPS must comply with the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This will require CARPs to specifically consider the impact of any decisions on small businesses.
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