§ 355.2 - Commencement of proceedings.

§ 355.2 Commencement of proceedings.

(a) Commencement of initial Administrative Assessment proceeding. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall commence a proceeding to determine the initial Administrative Assessment by publication no later than July 8, 2019, of a notice in the Federal Register seeking the filing of petitions to participate in the proceeding.

(b) Adjustments of the Administrative Assessment. Following the determination of the initial Administrative Assessment, the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the Digital Licensee Coordinator, if any, and interested copyright owners, Digital Music Providers, or Significant Nonblanket Licensees may file a petition with the Copyright Royalty Judges to commence a proceeding to adjust the Administrative Assessment. Any petition for adjustment of the Administrative Assessment must be filed during the month of May and may not be filed earlier than 1 year following the most recent publication in the Federal Register of a determination of the Administrative Assessment by the Copyright Royalty Judges. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall accept a properly filed petition under this paragraph (b) as sufficient grounds to commence a proceeding to adjust the Administrative Assessment and shall publish a notice in the Federal Register in the month of June seeking petitions to participate in the proceeding.

(c) Required participants. The Mechanical Licensing Collective and the Digital Licensee Coordinator designated by the Register of Copyrights in accordance with 17 U.S.C. 115(d)(5) shall each file a petition to participate and shall participate in each Administrative Assessment proceeding under this section.

(d) Other eligible participants. A copyright owner, Digital Music Provider, or Significant Nonblanket Licensee may file a petition to participate in a proceeding under paragraph (a) or (b) of this section. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall accept petitions to participate filed under this paragraph (d) unless the Judges find that the petitioner lacks a significant interest in the proceeding.

(e) Petitions to participate. Each petition to participate filed under this section must include:

(1) A filing fee of $150;

(2) The full name, address, telephone number, and email address of the petitioner;

(3) The full name, address, telephone number, and email address of the person filing the petition and of the petitioner's representative, if either differs from the filer; and

(4) Factual information sufficient to establish that the petitioner has a significant interest in the determination of the Administrative Assessment.

(f) Notice of identity of petitioners. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall give notice to all petitioners of the identity of all other petitioners.

(g) Proceeding Schedule.

(1) The Copyright Royalty Judges shall establish a schedule for the proceeding, which shall include dates for:

(i) A first negotiation period of 60 days, beginning on the date of commencement of the proceeding;

(ii) Filing of the opening submission by the Mechanical Licensing Collective described in § 355.3(b) or (c), with concurrent production of required documents and disclosures;

(iii) A period of 60 days, beginning on the day after the date the Mechanical Licensing Collective files its opening submission, for the Digital Licensee Coordinator and any other participant in the proceeding, other than the Mechanical Licensing Collective, to serve discovery requests and complete discovery pursuant to § 355.3(d);

(iv) Filing of responsive submissions by the Digital Licensee Coordinator and any other participant in the proceeding, with concurrent production of required documents and disclosures;

(v) A period of 60 days, beginning on the day after the due date for filing responsive submissions, for the Mechanical Licensing Collective to serve discovery requests and complete discovery of the Digital Licensee Coordinator and any other participant in the proceeding pursuant to § 355.3(g);

(vi) A second negotiation period of 14 days, commencing on the day after the end of the Mechanical Licensing Collective's discovery period;

(vii) Filing of a reply submission, if any, by the Mechanical Licensing Collective;

(viii) Filing of a joint pre-hearing submission by the Mechanical Licensing Collective, the Digital Licensee Coordinator, and any other participant in the hearing; and

(ix) A hearing on the record.

(2) The Copyright Royalty Judges may, for good cause shown and upon reasonable notice to all participants, modify the schedule, except no participant in the proceeding may rely on a schedule modification as a basis for delaying the scheduled hearing date. The Copyright Royalty Judges may alter the hearing schedule only upon a showing of extraordinary circumstances. No alteration of the schedule shall change the due date of the determination.