In March, the Copyright Royalty Board determined sound recording royalty rates for webcasters that could cause them to become a lot more commercial and/or terminate some existing features.
Today, we learned when webcasters' appeals of the rates will finally be examined by the court.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has set dates for the first part of the appeals process initiated by DiMA, NPR, IBS, AOL, Yahoo, the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music Licensing Committee, and other webcasters:
- February 25, 2008: The various groups of webcasters who filedappeals will have to submit their first briefs to try to convince thecourt why an appeal is so necessary.
- April 25, 2008: The Department of Justice, which will representthe Copyright Royalty Board, files its brief to try to justify therates it set earlier this year.
- May 15, 2008: SoundExchange files its brief to try to explain whythe rates it recommended, which were adopted by the CRB, are fair.
- June 12, 2008: The various parties reply to each others' briefs.
The whole affair isn't expected to be over until "very late in the year, or more likely, in 2009," according to the Broadcast Law Blog. These rates
will retroactively govern all music webcast to US users between 2006
and 2010, so the stakes are high for both webcasters and labels.
(via RAIN; image from uscourts.gov)
