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NewsNet Issue 775
July 15, 2019

Copyright Office Announces Fourth Modernization Webinar

The Copyright Office will host its fourth public modernization webinar on Thursday, July 25, 2019, at noon eastern time. 

The Office has received a number of questions on modernization and will use this webinar to highlight some of them to help explain the functions of the Enterprise Copyright System (ECS), future available data, and more. After the presentations, the panelists will answer additional questions submitted by the attendees. 

Participants must register for this Copyright Office webinar. The Copyright Office launched its modernization webinar series on January 31, 2019. View past webinars and presentation slides on copyright.gov. The Office will continue to hold additional webinars every other month during modernization to keep the public informed about and involved in the modernization process. Future webinar dates and topics will be announced through NewsNet.

NewsNet Issue 774
July 11, 2019

Create an Adventure with Copyright

The U.S. Copyright Office is hosting the Copyright Matters event “Create an Adventure with Copyright” on Wednesday, July 31, at 10:00 a.m. eastern time, in the historic Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress in the Jefferson Building in Washington, DC.

While copyright might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think about taking an adventure, copyright and adventure actually go hand in hand. Have you seen a photograph of a beautiful location and then gone on your own adventure there? Or have you written a song about an incredible place you have visited? The event will celebrate the role copyright plays in inspiring adventure and how adventure promotes copyright, with a focus on the impact copyright has on photographs, travel books, music, TV shows, and movies.

Featured speakers include Jeanne M. Fink, vice president and senior associate general counsel, National Geographic Society; John Hessler, author and curator of the Kislak Collection of the Archaeology of the Early Americas, Library of Congress; Andrea Sachs, travel reporter, The Washington Post; and Shodekeh, professional beatboxer, hip-hop vocal percussionist, breath artist.

The event will also be livestreamed.

Please visit the Copyright Office website to register for the event and to stay up-to-date about this program and speakers. Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or at ada@loc.gov.

NewsNet Issue 773
July 5, 2019

Copyright Office Issues Final Rule Designating Mechanical Licensing Collective and Digital Licensee Coordinator Under the Music Modernization Act

The U.S. Copyright Office has designated entities to serve as the mechanical licensing collective (MLC) and the digital licensee coordinator (DLC) under the Orrin G. Hatch–Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act (MMA).

The MMA directs the Register of Copyrights to designate a nonprofit entity operated by copyright owners as the MLC, which will administer the statute’s new blanket compulsory licensing system for digital music providers beginning on January 1, 2021. Among other duties, the MLC will be responsible for receiving usage reports from digital music providers, collecting and distributing royalties, and administering a process by which copyright owners can claim ownership of musical works (and shares of such works). The MMA also authorizes the Register to designate an entity as the DLC, which will represent digital music services in the administration of the license.

To make these selections, the Office conducted an extensive public inquiry in which it solicited proposals from entities seeking to be designated as the MLC or DLC, as well as comments from interested members of the public. In response, the Office received over 600 comments from stakeholders throughout the music industry, including numerous copyright owners who provided endorsements for one or more of the entities seeking designation.

Based on this record and the statutory selection criteria, the Register has designated Mechanical Licensing Collective, Inc. as the MLC, and Digital Licensee Coordinator, Inc. as the DLC. The Office looks forward to working with these entities and other stakeholders as the MMA implementation process continues.

Additional information about the designation proceeding is available here.

NewsNet Issue 772
June 25, 2019

U.S. Copyright Office Releases Pay.gov Form For SA3 Cable Systems to Pay the Sports Surcharge

On December 6, 2018, the Copyright Royalty Board issued a final rule, effective January 1, 2019, that requires affected cable systems to pay a separate per-program royalty (the Sports Surcharge) in addition to the requisite royalties under the section 111 license. The Sports Surcharge applies only to certain Form SA3 filers for the secondary transmission of live, non-network broadcasts of sports events on a distant television station carried by the cable system that would have been subject to blackout under the Federal Communication Commission’s sports exclusivity rule (FCC Sports Blackout Rule) prior to its repeal in 2014.

The Copyright Office has released a Sports Surcharge Addendum (Form SS), accessed through Pay.gov, for cable systems required to pay the Sports Surcharge. To access the Sports Surcharge Addendum, click here. To access instructions on filing the Sports Surcharge Addendum, click here.