Opponents of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733) “have chosen to stand by hometown radio stations against the giant recording labels,” NAB said Thursday in a statement responding to the Alliance for Community Media, National Federation of Community Broadcasters and other independent broadcaster stakeholders’ endorsement of the bill (see 1605110059). HR-1733 would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The bill includes a carve-out that would cap performance royalty payouts at a maximum of $500 per year for commercial stations with less than $1 million in annual revenue and $100 per year for college and public broadcasting stations. “We value our relationship with musicians,” NAB said. “Hometown radio stations are sustaining legacy artists and launching the careers of new artists. By contrast, many artists are suing their recording labels for royalties that they are owed. We believe radio stations are the best friend of the artists.”

Arguments that an FCC proposal on set-top boxes would disrupt copyright protection for content are “a misdirection,” Public Knowledge representatives said in a meeting with aides to Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 97-80. The practices multichannel video programming distributors are concerned about already are illegal, PK said. “It is hard to see how giving consumers greater access to lawful content would increase their appetite for unlawful content.” Content companies CBS, Disney, Scripps, 21st Century Fox and Viacom visited the FCC last week to argue the set-top proposal does threaten their copyrighted content, said an ex parte filing.

The Copyright Office’s planned May 18 and May 24 roundtables on how software-enabled products affect U.S. copyright law (see 1512150050) will include a focus on the fair use doctrine, the first sale doctrine and other exemptions to copyright protections, the CO said Monday in agendas for the two events. The May 18 roundtable in Washington, D.C., will be at the Library of Congress’ Madison Building. The May 24 roundtable in San Francisco will be at the University of California Hastings College of Law. Both roundtables also will examine the proper role of copyright law in protecting software-enabled consumer products and ownership issues associated with such products, the CO said.

Disney/ABC TV Group is launching an affiliate initiative, Clearinghouse, aimed at helping affiliates with distribution of new services on TV Everywhere platforms and over-the-top providers, the company said Monday during the 2016 NAB Show. It said Clearinghouse will give affiliates the ability to opt in to pre-negotiated agreements for distribution of their live, linear feeds and potential ability for placement for local VOD distribution. Disney/ABC said it will roll out Clearinghouse in coming months, starting with DirecTV via the Watch ABC TV Everywhere service and with Sony Playstation Vue, with those deals being templates for future Clearinghouse offerings. Hearst TV will pilot the DirecTV Clearinghouse affiliate opt-in with its 14 local ABC stations with the rollout of Watch ABC TV Everywhere this summer, Disney/ABC said.

Microsoft received 537 requests from July to December "to remove links to revenge porn photos or videos from Bing search results, or to remove access to the content itself when shared on OneDrive or Xbox Live," the company said in a blog post Friday. Citing its latest content removal request report, Steve Lippman, corporate responsibility director, said the company took action on 338 requests that met the criteria for removal. In the other cases, Microsoft needed more information or the content didn't contain nudity or didn't generally meet the accepted definitions of revenge porn, he said. It's the first time the report contained information on requests for removing nude or sexually explicit photos or videos of people published online without their permission. Citing its latest law enforcement requests and U.S. national security orders reports, Lippman said Microsoft received 39,083 legal requests for customer information from law enforcement agencies in the second half of 2015 -- 3,855 more than in the first half. Just over 2 percent of the requests resulted in the disclosure of content that customers created, shared or stored, based on court orders or warrants. On the latest Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requests, Microsoft received 0 to 499 FISA orders, seeking disclosure of content in 15,500 to 15,999 accounts. In the previous period, it received 0 to 999 orders for content affecting 18,000 to 18,999 accounts, Lippman said. Microsoft also got 0 to 499 national security letters in the latest period, compared with 0 to 999 in the prior period. "Requests from law enforcement agencies in five countries -- United States, United Kingdom, Turkey, France and Germany -- represent 76.8 percent of total requests in the second half of 2015," he wrote.

While music sales have been "skyrocketing," revenue for creators isn't keeping pace, wrote RIAA Chairman Cary Sherman in a blog post Tuesday. In 2015, consumers listened to "hundreds of billions of audio and music streams through on-demand ad-supported digital services like YouTube," but he said revenue has been "meager" and the problem is worsening. Sherman said major technology companies, which he didn't identify, are essentially usurping the revenue that should go to music creators by taking advantage of "outdated, market-distorting government rules and regulations that either pay below fair-market rates, or avoid paying for that music altogether." Sherman cited the exemption AM/FM broadcasters get from paying artists and labels, satellite's below-market rate standard, "and the hopelessly outdated 'notice and takedown' provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which many services have distorted to rake in billions of dollars of revenue on the backs of artists, songwriters and labels." RIAA reported that in 2015, for the first year ever, streaming was the largest component of music revenue, at 34 percent of the market and slightly higher than downloads. Total recorded-music revenue rose 0.9 percent to $7 billion from the prior year, and "continued growth of revenues from streaming services offset declines in sales of digital downloads and physical product," RIAA said.

MPAA and the Donuts domain name registry said they reached an agreement to ensure that websites using Donuts-registered domain names don’t engage in large-scale piracy. “This agreement demonstrates that the tech community and content creators can work together on voluntary initiatives to help ensure vibrant, legal digital marketplaces that benefit all members of the online ecosystem,” said MPAA CEO Chris Dodd in a Tuesday news release. MPAA will be a “Trusted Notifier” for reporting digital piracy websites using Donuts-registered domain names, Donuts and MPAA said. The agreement will have strict standards for making referrals, including “clear evidence of pervasive copyright infringement” and a “representation” that MPAA attempted to contact the website’s registrar and hosting provider to resolve the piracy, Donuts and MPAA said. Donuts will work with registrar partners to contact the website operator and seek additional evidence. If Donuts or a registrar partner finds a website engaged in illegal activity, the company may place a hold on or suspend the website for violating Donuts’ use policies, Donuts and MPAA said. Donuts “is committed to a healthy domain name environment and this is another step toward a safe and secure namespace,” said Executive Vice President Jon Nevett in the release.

Dish Network and Fox Entertainment may settle a 2012 complaint against the satellite company for its PrimeTime Anytime VOD service. In a joint status report filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the two said they "are presently engaged in business negotiations which include discussions about settlement of this case." Barring a settlement, Dish and Fox said they proposed a Sept. 6 trial date. Fox argued in its 2012 lawsuit that PrimeTime Anytime and its AutoHop service, which strips out commercials from network programming, was an "attempt to camouflage" copyright infringement (see report in the Aug. 28, 2012, issue).

SoundExchange sent notices of intent to the Copyright Royalty Board to audit a range of 2012, 2013 and 2014 royalty statements, the CRB said in Friday’s Federal Register. DMX and Muzak face planned audits of their 2012-2014 business establishment services royalty statements and commercial webcaster royalty statements, CRB said. Batanga also faces an audit of its 2012-14 commercial webcaster royalty statements. DMX faces an audit of its new subscription service royalty statements, and Muzak an audit of its pre-existing subscription service royalty statements, CRB said. Four broadcasters -- Beasley Broadcast Group, Greater Media, Townsquare Media and Univision Communications -- face audits of their 2012-14 broadcaster royalty statements, and Saga Communications audits of its 2013 and 2014 royalty statements in the same category, CRB said. SoundExchange has the right to do a single audit of each licensee for a calendar year to verify royalty payments, the CRB said.

The Copyright Office and George Mason University School of Law's Arts Entertainment Advocacy Clinic formed an academic partnership, the school said Friday in a news release. Arts and Entertainment Clinic law students are collaborating with the CO to examine how changes in distribution technology and other permission may affect authors' moral rights, GMU Law said. Students are working with the CO to field public inquiries on registration, recordation and other copyright issues, the school said. The CO and GMU Law also plan a joint symposium this spring, GMU Law said. “The partnership between the clinic students and the Copyright Office will both serve the needs of the Office and give students experience they will need to practice in this area of law,” Arts and Entertainment Advocacy Center Director Sandra Aistars said in the news release. “Students will have an unprecedented view into how the Office administers copyright law for the benefit of authors and users of works.”