In the waning days of the Congressional season, a bill will be deabted by the House of Representatives which would grant relief to small Webcasters affected by the controversial copyright fees set to take effect October 20.
The bill, the Relief for Small-Business Webcasters Bill (H.R. 5469), was introduced September 26th by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis), head of the House Judiciary Committee. It allows for a six-month repreive from the new fees set by the US Copyright office. The reasoning for this is to provide a time period for court cases to come to a conclusion before the fees begin to be collected.
The bill is one of about 40 to be considered before House members leave (as early as Friday) in order to campaign in earnest for the November elections. The bill currently sits in the House Judiciary; however, because Rep. Sensenbrenner heads the commitee, the chances of this bill coming before the full House are better than most. To pass, the bill needs what is known as a two-thirds supermajority, meaning affirmative votes must outnumber negative ones by a 2/3 majority.
Currently sitting in the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property is a bill by Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA), which would exempt businesses with less than $6 Million in revenue from paying the new fees. The Internet Radio Fairness Act (H.R.5285)has 35 cosponsors, among them continued friend of P2P Rep. Rick Boucher.
The fact of the matter is that small Webcasters think the fees are too much; the RIAA thinks they are too small. It is a good turn of events that lawmakers seek to grant relief to the Webcasters rather than the record companies. As it stands now, only companies like Yahoo, MTV or Spinner have the capital to maintain a consistent Webcasting presence.
Read 2 articles about it on CNet:
September 26
September 30
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