INTERNET COPYRIGHT INQUIRY SEEN LIKELY THIS WEEK
U.S. Copyright Office (CO) expects to open inquiry into copyright compulsory licensing for streaming media within next week, said CO attorney Bill Roberts. Inquiry is first step in potentially setting rules that will “determine a lot of how music is delivered in the future over the Internet,” Roberts told Precursor Group conference in Washington Fri. CO expects to allow about 45 days for comments, 30 days for replies, then decide whether to proceed to rulemaking or issue final rule, he said.
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Generally, CO doesn’t like idea of compulsory licenses, Roberts said, “but we keep adding them.” He said he preferred that industries involved work out their own solution and used compulsory licenses “only when absolutely necessary.” Industry agreement such as licensing by ASCAP and BMI would be good, Roberts said: “I have never understood why they couldn’t have set up a group like that to eliminate the need for a compulsory license.”
CO inquiry also will help determine whether there’s need for new legislation on Internet copyright, Roberts said. Attorney Richard Wiley said “blurring” of media and delivery systems was causing problems because they “can’t have different regulatory models. Someone has to solve this because the Internet is becoming the common delivery method.” Application of copyright and telecom law to Webcasting “will get a lot of attention” in Washington, Wiley predicted. Broadcasters failed to convince Congress last year to include prohibition on compulsory licenses for streaming broadcast programming on Internet, he said, but “I'm sure we'll see another attempt.”
Among issues to be considered in CO inquiry are technicalities such as need to make “intermittent” copies of works in order to distribute them through Internet, Roberts said. Intermittent copies often are necessary on servers to allow content to pass through Internet. Roberts said RIAA, for example, wanted to know whether existing compulsory licenses covered streaming and other intermittent copies.
Cable open access also will get lot of attention in Congress this term, Simon Strategies Pres. Gregory Simon predicted, although he acknowledged significant legislation might not actually be enacted. Simon, who also heads OpenNet Coalition, acknowledged that industry had made significant progress in opening cable systems to competing ISPs, but said there still were questions as to when and how they would become completely open. Determining what is open access is “tremendously important,” FCC Chief of Staff Marsha MacBride said. She said agency must be careful not to impose “legacy regulation” on new technologies or to allow “regulatory arbitrage.”
Govt.’s biggest challenge will be to “maintain the deregulatory environment,” NCTA Pres. Robert Sachs said, as market developments are overtaking regulation. He said there was “even less momentum” for open access legislation now than year ago because of progress industry had made, so he was “fairly confident” about Congress. On local side, however, Sachs said he expected “some local skirmishes” over access, “mostly fueled by the Bells.”