The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and the Radio Music License Committee (RMLC) said Thursday they reached agreement on the royalty rate for ASCAP's recording repertory that RMLC member broadcasters must pay over the next five years. The agreement, which takes effect Jan. 1 and runs through 2021, sets unspecified increases in the rates for both terrestrial and digital performances of ASCAP members' music, the parties said. The agreement also “expressly affirms the percentage share of radio performances represented by ASCAP -- at a level that reflects that ASCAP licenses more performances on broadcast radio than any other performing rights organization" (PRO), ASCAP said. The new agreement “will provide enhanced financial benefits to ASCAP songwriters, composers and music publishers at a time of tremendous disruption in the music industry,” said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews in a news release. RMLC Chairman Ed Christian in the news release said: “The increase in ASCAP fees is consistent with ASCAP's established spin share on radio.” A legal battle is ongoing between RMLC and the PRO Global Music Rights in which both parties are making antitrust claims. RMLC claimed in its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia that GMR's higher licensing rates were prompting ASCAP and Broadcast Music Inc. themselves to seek higher rates from radio stations (see 1611210011 and 1612090062).
The Copyright Office said it's extending to Jan. 30 the deadline for submitting comments on rulemakings to update the office's rules for supplementary registration information submissions, group registration of photos and group registration of periodicals. The CO released the NPRMs earlier this month (see 1612020025). The supplementary registration NPRM would update the rules to require an all-online application process. The photo registration NPRM would allow group registrations of unpublished photos, while the periodicals registration NPRM would require applicants for the group registration of contributions to periodicals to file claims online.
The Association of American Publishers urged President-elect Donald Trump Thursday to make IP rights protection a top priority. The administration should push for Congress to make fixes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, said AAP Vice President-Legal and Governmental Affairs Allan Adler in a letter to the transition team. The House and Senate Judiciary committees are gearing up to explore copyright legislation in the 115th Congress (see 1612080061). “The current epidemic of online infringement harms public as well as private interests in the availability” of creative content “and the legal flaws that hamper the DMCA in its intended operation need to be fixed,” Adler said. Earlier this week, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, RIAA and 17 other music organizations asked Trump to enforce IP laws to promote creativity and technological innovation (see 1612130023).
Broadband iTV won't get a rehearing en banc on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruling in September affirming a U.S. District Court ruling in a patent fight between Broadband iTV and Hawaiian Telcom, Oceanic Time Warner Cable and Time Warner Cable (see 1609280016). The appellate court in its order Wednesday denied the BBiTV petition without comment. Charter Communications now owns TWC.
Copyright Royalty Board official reinstatement of rules easing requirements for noncommercial broadcasters and commercial broadcasters to report streamed sound recordings to SoundExchange for royalty purposes came “as music to the ears of those noncommercial broadcasters,” said Fletcher Heald copyright and music licensing lawyer Karyn Ablin in a blog post Tuesday, the day the board's notice came. It reinstated previously allowed reporting relief requirements, which take effect when an eligible broadcaster pays no more than the $500 minimum annual royalty (see 1612130043). The CRB inadvertently rescinded the rule in a June technical amendment (see 1608100020). “Our prediction that there would not be ‘any fierce or widespread opposition to the Judges’ proposed amendment’ proved accurate,” said Ablin, who proposed the rule’s reinstatement on behalf of the NAB and the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee. “Judges received only three sets of comments,” which didn’t affect reinstatement, she wrote. “It’s hard to argue that noncommercial broadcasters should be treated more harshly under the reporting rules than commercial broadcasters,” Ablin said. “We are glad to see that the Judges have amended their rules in a way that more accurately reflects this commonsense principle.”
The Electronic Frontier Foundation criticized the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s strategic plan for IP rights enforcement for FY 2017-19, while Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said he’s “pleased” to implement it. IPEC’s plan, released Monday, urged improving citizens' understanding of the impacts of IP rights infringement and enhancing the domestic strategy for enforcing IP rights. Goals also include minimizing IP-infringing activity online and facilitating lawful trade activities (see 1612120062). The plan “seems to put the weight of the federal government behind these shadow regulations,” EFF senior staff attorney Mitch Stoltz said in a Wednesday blog post. “The plan gives lip service to transparency, good research, and respect for freedom of speech. Unfortunately, the plan also praises and encourages the negotiation of private agreements between Internet companies that fail to uphold those same values.” The document does contain “a strong statement about the importance of limitations on copyright (as well as trademark and patent rights),” Stoltz said. “But neither a shout-out to fair use nor the talisman of ‘multistakeholder’ policymaking are enough to protect Internet users against censorship, nor to give them a voice in the functioning of the Internet.” DHS supports the IPEC strategy and will “advance policy initiatives necessary to strengthen IP enforcement,” Johnson said Tuesday in a statement.
The Copyright Royalty Board published a final rule in Tuesday's Federal Register reinstating rules that ease the requirements for noncommercial broadcasters and commercial broadcasters to report streamed sound recordings to SoundExchange for royalty purposes when either pays no more than the $500 minimum annual royalty. The CRB proposed the technical amendment in August to reinstate the previously allowed reporting relief requirements, which were inadvertently rescinded in a June technical amendment (see 1608100020). The CRB said it received comments from the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System and a joint filing from the National Association of Broadcasters and the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License Committee that didn't oppose the relief reinstatement amendment.
The News Media Alliance's recent white paper on policy positions (see 1611300048) for the incoming Trump administration is “alarming” given its call to potentially “weaken fair use,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation IP activist Elliot Harmon in a blog post. The alliance, formerly known as the Newspaper Association of America, proposed that a Trump White House and Congress seek the enactment of “strong” copyright protections that “must be structured to allow for a return on investment, and not to encourage aggregators, search engines, social media sites and advertising networks to build revenue from content in which they do not invest.” Legislation should include language “refocusing the fair-use test on its original purpose to prevent courts from undermining the Constitution’s encouragement of compensation to entities that generate creativity and productivity,” NMA suggested. It targets federal courts' transformative fair use test prong by “asking the government to revoke rights that journalists rely on: the use of quotations and eyewitness photos in news reporting is itself a form of transformative fair use,” Harmon said. “Glibly asking to change the fair use statute, which has been the bedrock of copyright law's free speech protections since it was written into the Copyright Act in 1976, is short-sighted and dangerous.” Fair use “is one of the safety valves in copyright law intended to protect First Amendment rights,” Harmon said. “The press can’t afford to weaken one of its most important tools.” It “takes a leap to say what we're suggesting” will result in a weakening of the fair use doctrine, an NMA spokesman said. NMA's white paper is aimed at “trying to bring back value” to the journalistic work its members produce, with its copyright proposal focusing on “protecting those that create and disseminate ideas,” the spokesman said.
The Patent and Trademark Office's Enhanced Patent Quality Initiative and other initiatives aimed at improving patent quality are “here to stay” despite the upcoming change in White House administration, Director Michelle Lee said Tuesday. PTO officials “will be working hard to keep this snowball moving forward and growing,” Lee said during an agency event, according to a prepared version of her remarks. “Stakeholder input and collaboration from around the country -- and indeed, from around the world, including with our counterpart offices overseas -- will continue to be vital to our efforts.” PTO's efforts to improve patent quality have been aimed at issuing patents that are “correct in accordance with the law,” clearly delineate “the patent's boundaries” and are “issued consistently” across examiners, Lee said. “There is a cost to society when the USPTO issues a patent that should not issue, just as there is a cost to society when we don’t issue a patent that should issue. With patents that are overly broad or vague, we create inefficiencies and opportunities for abuse. With patents that are unduly narrow, we discourage incentives to innovate. At a time when IP is more important to our economy than ever before, neither is an option, we have to get this right.”
House Judiciary Committee leaders’ policy proposal on Copyright Office operations and IT continued to draw a mix of praise and concern from stakeholders Thursday after its unveiling. It calls for the CO to have more autonomy from the Library of Congress and for changes to the process for selecting a Register of Copyrights to lead the office, plus seeks an alternative copyright small claims process in line with a 2013 CO proposal (see 1612080061). NAB believes the document from House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and committee ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., is “an important step forward” in the committee’s copyright legislative review, said CEO Gordon Smith. “As proposals from leadership in both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees recognize, a modern [CO] is essential to the ability of copyright owners and users to effectively serve consumers in today's digital marketplace.” The National Music Publishers’ Association hopes the “announcement signals a move towards making the necessary updates to copyright law that finally would allow songwriters to be paid fairly for their work,” said CEO David Israelite. Public Knowledge has “some significant questions and potential concerns” with the Goodlatte/Conyers plan, said General Counsel Ryan Clough. “Like any other government agency -- particularly one with a documented history of regulatory capture -- the [CO] needs rigorous accountability and oversight. It is unclear whether the current proposal would eliminate all supervision by the Librarian of Congress, making the [CO] a free-floating regulatory agency housed within the legislative branch.” The small claims plan “will require substantial further deliberation,” Clough said. “It is critical that Congress not create a new litigation process that copyright trolls could hijack. It is also unclear why this new forum for lawsuits should be housed within the legislative branch as opposed to other federal courts.”