Copyright Royalty Board News, Issue 169

June 16, 2017
Issue 169

JUDGES ANNOUNCE PROCEDURAL REGULATIONS FOR THE COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD REGARDING ELECTRONIC FILING OF CLAIMS (82 FR 27016)

The Copyright Royalty Judges have issued a final rule amending the regulations governing claims to royalty fees deposited with the Copyright Office under compulsory licenses to reflect implementation of a new electronic filing system and to consolidate cable and satellite rules. For details, click here. For an accessible version, click here.

BEGINNING IN JULY 2017, claimants or their authorized representatives who wish to file online claims to royalty funds for cable and satellite retransmission of broadcast television programs must register for and use the new eCRB electronic filing system. Claimants have access to eCRB via a link on the CRB website, and registration is free.

Any claimant who does not have access to the Internet, must file a paper claim. Claimants filing paper claims should contact the CRB at 202-707-7658 early in July to obtain the required claim form so they can file their claim by mail or by delivering it in accordance with CRB regulations relating to paper filings.  The required printable claim forms will also be posted on the CRB website, but they will be available only during the filing period (the month of July 2017).

All claimants should review the amended regulations regarding filing of claims (37 CFR 350.5, 360) closely prior to preparing claims.

Because the eCRB system will be new to all users, claimants are urged to register for eCRB now and file claims EARLY in July to allow for any system glitches the CRB has been unable to anticipate. The dates for filing claims are in the Copyright Act, and the Judges do not have the authority to extend the filing deadline.

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June 20, 2017:  Due date for comments on proposed regulations to require covered cable systems to pay a separate per-telecast royalty for sports programming (82 FR 24611).

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