U.S. Copyright Office Issues Final Rule Updating Section 115 Compulsory License Regulations
Issue No. 757 - March 22, 2019
The U.S. Copyright Office is finalizing interim regulations pursuant to the Musical Works Modernization Act, title I of the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. The interim rule amended the Office’s prior regulations pertaining to the compulsory “mechanical” license for making and distributing phonorecords of nondramatic musical works available under 17 U.S.C. § 115 so as to conform the prior regulations to the new law, including with respect to the operation of notices of intention and statements of account, and made other minor technical updates.
This rule is generally directed at the present transition period before a blanket license is offered by a mechanical licensing collective and does not include regulatory updates that may be required in connection with the future offering of that blanket license; such updates will be the subject of future rulemakings.
In addition to adopting the interim rule as final, the rule makes further technical changes to the Office’s statement of account regulations to update cross-references to other section 115-related regulations that were recently amended by the Copyright Royalty Judges.
More information is available here.