102
the procedures established in other sections of this legislation. To facilitate the incorporation of this compulsory license into the general structure of the bill, the section is set forth in rather general language. This section and other sections of this legislation provide adequate authorization for the Register of Copyrights to promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to implement the policy objectives of this section.
The statutory compulsory license is only available to public broadcasting upon compliance with the requirements of this section and the regulations of the Copyright Office promulgated to implement the provisions of this section. Failure to observe these conditions renders all unauthorized uses as acts of infringement, fully subject to the remedies provided in Chapter 5.
In accordance with the regulations of the Register of Copyrights, a public broadcasting entity shall at periodic intervals file a notice with the Copyright Office containing such information necessary for the operation of this section as may be required by the Register of Copyrights. At such intervals as may be prescribed by the Register, the public broadcasting entity shall deposit with the Register of Copyrights a statement of account and the total royalty fees for the period covered by the statement. The statement of account shall be in such detail as may be required by the Register of Copyrights. It is the intent of this legislation that the statement of account and other relevant information filed with the Register of Copyrights shall be available for public study and inspection.
Royalty Fees
Subsection (c) provides that reasonable royalty fees "for public television and radio broadcasts by public broadcasting entities" shall be established by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal. Such fees may be calculated upon a per-use, per-program, prorated, or annual basis, as the Copyright Royalty Tribunal finds appropriate with respect to the type of the copyrighted work and the nature of broadcast use.
Since this section does not establish a statutory royalty schedule, it is contemplated that the Register of Copyrights shall upon the effective date of this section proceed to constitute a panel of the Tribunal to establish a royalty fee schedule. This legislation requires the payment of reasonable royalties by public broadcasting commencing with the effective date of the bill. The payment of such royalties, however, may be deferred in the absence of private license agreements, until a royalty schedule has been adopted by the Tribunal, and the Register of Copyrights has promulgated such regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of this section.
It is further provided that the royalty fee schedule may be changed or supplemented “from time to time” by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal may be substituted for the compulsory license provided in this section.
The Committee in adopting Section 118 anticipates that determinations as to the amount of the royalty to be paid for the use of works covered under this section will be decided by private license agreements or by the application of the rates provided in the fee schedule adopted by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal.
