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NMPA_International_Survey_12th_Edition

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FAIR USE LEGISLATION<br />

On March 4, 2003, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-<br />

CA) reintroduced her fair use legislation—H.R. 1066,<br />

Benefit Authors Without Limiting the Advancement or<br />

Net Consumer Expectations Act (“BALANCE Act”).This<br />

bill is similar to the bill she introduced late in the 107th<br />

Congress (H.R. 5522) and was supported by the Digital<br />

Media Association. Among other things, the legislation<br />

(1) amends the Copyright Act’s fair use provisions to<br />

add “analog or digital transmissions” to the means by<br />

which a reproduction could be permissible under the<br />

fair use doctrine; (2) expands the Copyright Act’s limitation<br />

on exclusive rights to provide that it is not an<br />

infringement for lawful owners of copywritten digital<br />

material to “reproduce, store, adapt, or access”the material<br />

for archival purposes for a nonpublic display or performance<br />

of the material on a digital media device; (3)<br />

amends the Copyright Act’s first sale provision to allow<br />

an owner of digital material to sell and/or give away<br />

their copies of digital works; and (4) amends the DMCA<br />

anti-circumvention provisions to allow consumers to<br />

bypass access controls or copyright protection technologies<br />

to make copies. We continue to oppose this<br />

legislation, and the RIAA and BSA have announced<br />

their respective opposition to the bill.<br />

DISTANCE EDUCATION ACT<br />

The Distance Education Act was enacted by the<br />

107th Congress late in its 2002 legislative session, with<br />

the support of <strong>NMPA</strong>.The new law reflects a narrow and<br />

carefully balanced exemption from copyright infringement<br />

liability for certain public performances and displays<br />

of material on the Internet for use in bona fide<br />

class sessions, under the direction of an instructor.As a<br />

result of input from <strong>NMPA</strong> and others, the law does not<br />

permit downloads or other distribution of music or<br />

other materials for student use.<br />

SMALL WEBCASTERS LICENSING ACT<br />

In mid-November 2002, both houses of Congress<br />

passed the Small Webcasters Licensing Act, introduced<br />

following a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP)<br />

determination in early 2002 that webcasters are liable<br />

for sound recording performance royalty payments<br />

pursuant to the section 114 statutory license, and<br />

issued a proposed rate. It also ruled that liability is<br />

retroactive to October 1998. Webcasters opposed both<br />

the proposed rate and the date of liability, while record<br />

labels supported them.<br />

PAYOLA INQUIRY<br />

On January 28,2003,Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) reintroduced<br />

his legislation of last year addressing concerns<br />

with anti-competitive practices of radio stations and the<br />

use of payola,which is similar to the bill he introduced last<br />

year (107th Congress).The bill is largely directed at Clear<br />

Channel Communications and concern with its growing<br />

use (or perceived use) of anticompetitive practices.<br />

On January 30, the Senate Commerce Committee<br />

held a hearing on anticompetitive practices in the radio<br />

and concert industries at which Senator Feingold and<br />

Congressman Berman testified. This hearing largely<br />

focused on whether consolidation of radio station<br />

ownership—specifically, Clear Channel—is limiting<br />

new artist entrants into the market and/or stemming<br />

equitable airplay. This hearing was the first in a series<br />

of planned hearings by the Commerce Committee on<br />

media ownership.<br />

ANTI-PIRACY AWARENESS CAMPAIGN<br />

In October 2002, <strong>NMPA</strong>, RIAA, the Motion Picture<br />

Association of America (MPAA) and the Songwriters<br />

Guild of America (SGA) joined together to launch an<br />

anti-Internet-piracy awareness campaign aimed at colleges,<br />

and to send out letters to the “Fortune 1,000” U.S.<br />

corporations urging them to take whatever steps are<br />

necessary to ensure that their networks are not being<br />

misused to infringe copyrighted works.The letter noted<br />

that piracy of music, movies and other creative works is<br />

taking place at a surprisingly large number of companies<br />

and pointed out that allowing employees to use<br />

corporate networks to illegally distribute copyrighted<br />

music and movies is no different from software piracy.<br />

PIRACY INQUIRIES<br />

The House Subcommittee on Courts,the Internet,and<br />

Intellectual Property has held several oversight hearings<br />

this year to examine piracy of copyrighted materials: (1)<br />

Peer-to-Peer Piracy on University Campuses (February<br />

26); (2) Copyright Piracy Prevention and the Broadcast<br />

Flag (March 6); and (3) <strong>International</strong> Copyright Piracy:<br />

Links to Organized Crime and Terrorism (March 13).<br />

While none of these hearings has resulted in the introduction<br />

of legislation to prevent or prohibit the unauthorized<br />

use of copyrighted works, key members of the<br />

Subcommittee are creating a strong record that supports<br />

our concerns about rampant piracy. In addition, key<br />

members appear to align with our interests and have<br />

expressed a willingness to actively continue the<br />

Subcommittee’s oversight role in this area.<br />

<strong>NMPA</strong> INTERNATIONAL SURVEY TWELTH EDITION THE YEAR IN REVIEW: <strong>NMPA</strong> AND THE MUSIC PUBLISHING INDUSTRY<br />

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