CO Issues Rule for Music Transition Period Reporting, Royalties

The Copyright Office issued a final rule Thursday for transition period cumulative reporting and royalty transfers to the mechanical licensing collective (see 2012310019). The rule requires digital music providers to “submit cumulative statements of account to the mechanical licensing collective at the conclusion of the statutory transition period in order to be eligible for the statutory limitation on liability for prior unlicensed uses of musical works.” The rule creates a “mechanism for digital music providers to rely upon royalty input estimations and make subsequent adjustments once the inputs are finalized.”