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- (4) The Register of Copyrights shall promulgate regulations under which persons who can reasonably be expected to have claims may, during the year in which performances take place, without expense to or harassment of operators or proprietors of establishments in which phonorecord players are located, have such access to such establishments and to the phonorecord players located therein and such opportunity to obtain information with respect thereto as may be reasonably necessary to determine, by sampling procedures or otherwise, the proportion of contribution of the musical works of each such person to the earnings of the phonorecord players for which fees shall have been deposited. Any person who alleges that he has been denied the access permitted under the regulations prescribed by the Register of Copyrights may bring an action in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for the cancellation of the compulsory license of the phonorecord player to which such access has been denied, and the court shall have power to declare the compulsory license thereof invalid from the date of issue thereof.
(d) Criminal Penalties.—Any person who knowingly makes a false representation of a material fact in an application filed under clause (1)(A) of subsection (b), or who knowingly alters a certificate issued under clause (1)(B) of subsection (b) or knowingly affixes such a certificate to a phonorecord player other than the one it covers, shall be fined not more than $2,500.
(e) Definitions.—As used in this section, the following terms and their variant forms mean the following:
- (1) A “coin-operated phonorecord player” is a machine or device that:
- (A) is employed solely for the performance of nondramatic musical works by means of phonorecords upon being activated by insertion of a coin;
- (B) is located in an establishment making no direct or indirect charge for admission;
- (C) is accompanied by a list of the titles of all the musical works available for performance on it, which list is affixed to the phonorecord player or posted in the establishment in a prominent position where it can be readily examined by the public; and
- (D) affords a choice of works available for performance and permits the choice to be made by the patrons of the establishment in which it is located.
- (2) An “operator” is any person who, alone or jointly with others:
- (A) owns a coin-operated phonorecord player; or
- (B) has the power to make a coin-operated phonorecord player available for placement in an establishment for purposes of public performance; or
- (C) has the power to exercise primary control over the selection of the musical works made available for public performance in a coin-operated phonorecord player.
- (3) A “performing rights society” is an association or corporation that licenses the public performance of nondramatic musical works on behalf of the copyright owners, such as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Broadcast Music, Inc., and SESAC, Inc.
§ 117. Scope of exclusive rights: Use in conjunction with computers and similar information systems
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 through 116 and 118, this title does not afford to the owner of copyright in a work any greater or lesser rights with respect to the use of the work in conjunction with automatic systems capable of storing, processing, retrieving, or transferring information, or in conjunction with any similar device, machine, or process, than those afforded to works under the law, whether title 17 or the common law or statutes of a State, in effect on December 31, 1976, as held applicable and construed by a court in action brought under this title.
§ 118. Limitations on exclusive rights: Public broadcasting of nondramatic literary and musical works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works
(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement of copyright for a public broadcasting entity to broadcast any nondramatic literary or musical work, pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work under the provisions of this section.
