[A2k] Royalty Logic challenges the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board

[Anne-Catherine Lorrain]

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Company Hopes To Challenge CRB's Existence
Billboard.biz - May 14, 2008 - Legal and Management

By Susan Butler, N.Y.


Royalty Logic hopes to challenge the very existence of the U.S. Copyright R=
oyalty Board, which sets rates for compulsory licenses under federal copyri=
ght law.

The company filed a motion on Tuesday with the federal Appeals Court in Was=
hington, D.C., which will be hearing the webcasters' appeal of the CRB's ra=
te decision from last year, asking for permission to file additional legal =
arguments. The arguments challenge the constitutionality of the law that cr=
eated the CRB.

Royalty Logic was a party in the webcaster rate trial. The company wanted t=
he authority to compete with SoundExchange, which the CRB denied. SoundExch=
ange is the only organization currently authorized to license and collect r=
oyalties for sound recording owners, musicians and vocalists under section =
114 of the Copyright Act.

That section authorizes the public performance (e.g., streaming) of sound r=
ecordings over non-interactive digital services as long as certain royaltie=
s are paid and other conditions are met. The CRB is authorized by law to se=
t those rates through a two-year rate-setting process.

The deadline for filing legal briefs with the Appeals Court has passed. The=
refore, Royalty Logic is asking the court to permit the filing of additiona=
l arguments for consideration.

If permitted to file the brief, Royalty Logic will argue that the law creat=
ing the CRB violates the appointments clause of the U.S. Constitution. In o=
ther words, Congress improperly permitted the Librarian of Congress, which =
controls the Copyright Office, to appoint the three Copyright Royalty Judge=
s.

If a court held that the law is unconstitutional, it is conceivable that de=
cisions made by the CRB would be null and void.

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Anne-Catherine Lorrain
TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue (TACD)
TACD Intellectual Property Expert
Avenue de Tervueren, 36 bte 4
1040 Bruxelles
Tel: +32 2 740 28 17
Mobile: +32 473 99 97 92
Cell (US): +1 (202) 390 6264