[Federal Register: November 26, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 227)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 66391-66392]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
[Docket No. RM 99-5C]
Notice and Recordkeeping for Non-subscription Digital
Transmissions
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Interim rule amendment.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is extending the date by which a non-
interactive, non-subscription service currently making digital
transmissions of sound recordings must file an initial notice of
digital transmission with the Copyright Office from October 15, 1999,
to December 1, 1999.
EFFECTIVE DATE: November 26, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David O. Carson, General Counsel, or
Tanya M. Sandros, Attorney Advisor, Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400,
Southwest Station, Washington, D.C. 20024. Telephone: (202) 707-8380.
Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995,
Public Law 104-39, 109 Stat. 336, created a statutory license that
allowed an eligible subscription service to perform publicly a sound
recording by means of digital audio transmissions, provided that the
service adheres to the terms of the license and complies with the
notice and recordkeeping regulations promulgated by the Librarian of
Congress. 17 U.S.C. 114(f)(2) (1995). Three years later with the
passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (``DMCA''),
Congress expanded the scope of this license to include nonexempt, non-
subscription transmission services and two preexisting satellite
digital audio radio services.
Prior to the passage of the DMCA, the Copyright Office published
regulations to govern how a subscription service was to provide notice
to the copyright owners of the sound recordings and maintain specific
records documenting the use of these works. See 63 FR 34289 (June 24,
1998). Under these regulations, each service had to file an initial
notice of digital transmission with the Licensing Division of the
Copyright Office. 37 CFR 201.35. The deadline for filing this notice
was structured to allow a service to file its notice either before it
commenced operation, or in the case of a service already making
transmissions prior to the publication of the rule, within 45 days of
the effective date of the regulation.
These filing requirements, however, did not allow a service newly
eligible to make use of the license under the DMCA to make a timely
filing of its initial notice of digital transmission. Therefore, the
Office proposed an amendment to--201.35(f) which extended the date for
filing an initial notice to October 15, 1999, in the case of those
services operating under the expanded license. 64 FR 42316 (August 4,
1999). The proposed amendment was unopposed, and the Office adopted the
change as a final interim regulation on September 20, 1999. 64 FR 50758
(September 20, 1999).
Subsequently, the National Association of Broadcasters (``NAB'')
filed a petition with the Copyright Office, seeking an extension of the
October 15 deadline for filing the initial notices to December 1, 1999.
NAB made this request because it believed that many potentially
affected parties were unaware of the need to file an initial notice by
the October 15, 1999, date, and consequently, missed the filing
deadline. See 64 FR 59140 (November 2, 1999). Since that date, the
Copyright Office has received several hundred initial notices from non-
subscription services that are currently operating under the section
114 license and expects additional filings to continue. Thus, it
appears that many of the potentially affected parties were unaware of
the rule change that set a date certain by which these services had to
file an initial notice of digital transmission of sound recordings.
In recognition of the apparent breakdown in the process to
disseminate the information regarding
[[Page 66392]]
the filing requirement to those parties most affected by the interim
rule change and the lack of any comments opposing the extension of the
filing date, the Office is amending its interim regulation in
accordance with NAB's suggestion and adopting the proposed December 1,
1999, date.
A service should be aware that the date-specific filing deadline
for non-subscription services is significant only if it has made a
digital transmission under the statutory license prior to that filing
date. Any preexisting entity, just as any new entity which chooses to
make use of the license at a future time, may file its initial notice
after these dates, so long as it files its initial notice with the
Licensing Division prior to the first transmission of a sound
recording.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
Although the Copyright Office, located in the Library of Congress
which is part of the legislative branch, is not an ``agency'' subject
to the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601-612, the Register of
Copyrights considers the effect of a proposed amendment on small
businesses. For that reason, the Register is amending yet again 37 CFR
201.35(f) in order to allow small business entities that are eligible
for the statutory license to make a timely filing of its initial notice
of digital transmission. The Register sought the amendment at the
request of the NAB, an organization that represents the interests of
numerous small broadcasters who were heretofore unaware of the filing
requirement.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 201
Copyright.
Final Interim Regulation
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, part 201 of title 37 of
the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
1. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702
Sec. 201.35 [Amended]
2. Section 201.35(f) is amended by removing the date ``October 15''
and inserting in its place ``December 1''.
Dated: November 18, 1999.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
James H. Billington,
The Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 99-30928 Filed 11-24-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-31-P