[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 89 (Thursday, May 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 25213]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-12004]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Office
[Docket No. 96-2A]
Eligibility for the Cable Compulsory License
AGENCY: Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Termination of proceeding.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is terminating Docket No. 96-2A until
further notice due to a Congressional request that the Office undertake
a global review of copyright licensing of broadcast retransmissions for
the purpose of recommending legislative revision of the Copyright Act.
EFFECTIVE DATE: June 9, 1997.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CONTACT: Nanette Petruzzelli, Acting General
Counsel, or William Roberts, Senior Attorney for Compulsory Licenses,
Copyright GC/I&R, P.O. Box 70400, Southwest Station, Washington, D.C.
20024. Telephone (202) 707-8380. Telefax: (202) 707-8366.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 111 of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C.,
grants a compulsory copyright license to cable television systems for
the retransmission of over-the-air broadcast stations to their
subscribers. In exchange for the license, cable operators submit
royalty payments, along with statements of account detailing their
retransmissions, to the Copyright Office on a semiannual basis, which
deposits the royalties with the United States Treasury in interest
bearing accounts for later distribution to copyright owners of non-
network broadcast programming.
On May 6, 1996, the Copyright Office opened this notice of inquiry
to consider the eligibility for the cable compulsory license of open
video systems of telephone companies which retransmit broadcast signals
pursuant to section 653 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Public
Law No. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56. See 61 FR 20197 (May 6, 1996). The
Office received comments and/or reply comments from fifteen parties
addressing some or all of the issues raised by the Copyright Office in
its Notice of Inquiry.
While the Office was considering the commenters' arguments as to
whether open video systems are eligible for a compulsory license under
section 111 of the Copyright Act, the Office received on February 6,
1997, a request from Senator Orrin Hatch, Chairman of the United States
Senate Committee on the Judiciary, that the Office undertake a global
review of copyright licensing of broadcast retransmissions. Senator
Hatch asked the Copyright Office to solicit the views of the parties
affected by the licensing issues being raised in the study, analyze the
information gathered, and develop policy options and legislative
recommendations for the Committee to consider before the end of the
legislative session. Open video systems' eligibility for a section 111
license was targeted by Senator Hatch as one of the issues to be
examined in the study.
The Copyright Office has already begun its examination of the
issues raised by Senator Hatch and has announced dates for public
meetings in May. In the process of preparing this study, the Office
expects to hear from many of the parties who submitted comments in this
notice of inquiry, both in written statements and at the May
proceedings; accordingly, the Office anticipates that the issues
regarding the eligibility of open video systems for the cable
compulsory license will be fully aired and analyzed. Those who have
already commented fully in the 96-2A proceeding may incorporate those
comments by reference in the record for the study (97-1).
After its analysis of the issues is completed, the Office may, in
its report to Congress, propose one or more legislative solutions to
the issues raised in this inquiry. Under these circumstances, the
Office believes it is not appropriate or advisable to keep this
rulemaking proceeding open. Therefore, the Copyright Office has decided
to terminate Docket No. 96-2A until further notice.
Dated: April 21, 1997.
Marybeth Peters,
Register of Copyrights.
Approved by:
James H. Billington,
The Librarian of Congress.
[FR Doc. 97-12004 Filed 5-7-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-31-P
