Electronic Payment of Royalties
The U.S. Copyright Office has published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register to amend its regulations regarding the submission of royalty fees by cable operators, satellite carriers, and DART operators to require that these fees be paid using the U.S. Treasury Department’s Pay.gov system.
This rule is proposed to simplify the royalty payment process as part of broader efforts to make Office services digitized, interconnected, searchable, and easier to navigate. Mandating Pay.gov benefits both filers and the Office because it streamlines the process to receive, reconcile, and post payments; provides remitters with the convenience of using a variety of methods, including credit or debit cards, as a form of payment; and eliminates redundancy. Under the proposed rule, the Office would achieve a more efficient collection of royalty fees. In addition, the rule harmonizes payment regulations across all services throughout the Office, which already mandate the use of Pay.gov for nonroyalty electronic payments.
Written comments must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. eastern time on January 13, 2025.
- December 12, 2024 – Notice of Proposed Rulemaking