SiriusXM properly interpreted gross revenue exclusions that satellite radio service can use when calculating royalty payments owed to SoundExchange to apply to pre-1972 sound recordings but improperly excluded certain revenue from its gross revenue royalty base, the Copyright Royalty Judges said in a regulatory interpretation published in Thursday's Federal Register. The interpretation was in response to a referral by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. CRJ judges also deferred to the court to determine whether SiriusXM had "a consistent, transparent, reasonable methodology" for valuing the exclusions applied to pre-'72 sound recordings.

Sound recording royalty rates paid to SoundExchange will increase next year, said the Copyright Royalty Board in Monday's Federal Register. “Last year, the Board determined that the CPI had not increased enough to merit an increase in the royalties,” blogged Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford Tuesday of the consumer price index. “This year, based on the calculations set out in the Federal Register, there will in fact be an increase.” Nonsubscription webcasters will pay a per-performance royalty of .0018 cent instead of the .0017 cent from 2017. Subscription webcasters will pay .0023, up from .0022. The increase includes simulcasts of broadcasters' over the air programming, Oxenford said. These rates apply through 2020, and a new proceeding to create rates for 2021-25 will start in 2019, he said.

The Copyright Office intends to renew 14 exemptions previously granted for rules banning access to copyrighted works in an expedited procedure kicking off the office's seventh triennial review of Digital Millennium Copyright Act rules, said a notice in Thursday's Federal Register. The 14 exemptions (see 1709150048) weren't controversial, dealing with issues such as allowing visually impaired people to employ audio services to listen to a book, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid told us. "This is the first time they’re using this approach," he said, saying it increases efficiency in the rulemaking process. CO is seeking comment on 23 petitions to renew existing exemptions in the NPRM that solicits three rounds of comments. Initial comments are due Dec. 18; response comments Feb. 12; replies March 14. Public hearings will be in Washington, D.C., April 9 and in California with a date and location to be determined.

The U.S. Trade Representative office received more than four dozen comments on its investigation into the Chinese government's tech transfer, IP and innovation policies and practices, which many filers said put U.S. companies and others at a disadvantage (see 1708150039). Comments were filed last week. The interagency Section 301 committee plans a 9:30 a.m. hearing Oct. 10 at 400 E St. SW, with post-hearing rebuttal comments due Oct. 20. BSA|The Software Alliance said the Chinese government's IP-related and market access policies and practices prevent foreign businesses from operating there "efficiently, or at all" and fail to protect IP and trade secrets. It said barriers are "particularly acute" in telecom and IT industries such as cloud computing, cross-border data flows, requirements for disclosing a company source code, and enterprise standards. The Telecommunications Industry Association said China's drive to boost its domestic industry is "accompanied by a more concerning attempt to undermine and shrink the role of U.S. and other foreign technology firms." TIA worries more security rules to vet foreign tech may disadvantage U.S. exporters selling to China's markets and could set a precedent for other countries. The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said Chinese policies: "induce forced" tech and IP transfer across many advanced-technology industries; engage in state-directed foreign direct investment and mergers and acquisition that targets foreign enterprises as part of an effort to move China 'up the value chain' in those sectors; and coordinate cyber-based IP and technology theft. CompTIA said China's aggressive implementation and use of technical standards to support industries like the ICT sector creates major interoperability issues, lack adequate safeguards to protect IP, and are developed without sufficient transparency and participation rights for foreign companies. It wants the USTR to encourage the Chinese government to adapt tech-neutral policies and allow the market to choose technology and standards. China has taken positive steps to amend civil law to make clear trade secrets are subject to civil IP protection, but the American Bar Association Section of IP Law said it's "a significant problem." The ABA said "enforcement measures are inadequate, penalties are weak, bad faith registrations are a problem, and systemic counterfeiting and widespread piracy still needs to be addressed," including stronger copyright protections and damage awards for patent infringement.

A coalition of nearly two dozen music organizations wrote U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer that the tech community is "working for a backward-looking agenda" for the North American Free Trade Agreement at the expense of U.S. cultural, economic and employment interests. In the Tuesday letter, the coalition, including ASCAP, BMI and RIAA, cited an Aug. 31 letter to him from CTA, Internet Association and other industry groups that want a "strong and balanced copyright framework," which includes the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbors. That tech letter said DMCA safe harbors and the Copyright Act exceptions are essential to the internet's commercial growth and any modernization of NAFTA that omits portions of a copyright framework that the tech sector relies on "will cause serious harm" to part of the economy and risk jobs. But the music coalition said the tech sector wants the U.S. to insert "vast loopholes" in the copyright system "such as broad copyright exceptions and sweeping immunities for those committing content theft." The music coalition said it would permit trading partners to be havens for piracy for those who illegally infringe on American content. "Beyond the U.S. experience, our trading partners are simply not in a position to implement U.S. safe harbor law in their own domestic systems, which lack fundamental aspects of the U.S. legal system, including our high-standard intellectual property protections, our case law and our Constitution," the music coalition said. It said adding safe harbors would put U.S. creative industries at a "competitive disadvantage."

Some commenters told the Copyright Office they seek leeway under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act for circumventing technological protection measures, showed filings last week on regulations.gov COLC-2017-0007-0001. The Auto Care Association and CTA requested "exemption for diagnosis, repair, and modification of computer programs that control" autos' operation so "owners of vehicles [can] obtain the benefits from the exemption recognized in the previous triennial review," "free of any constraint in time or scope based on external, non-copyright factors, as were imposed in the previously granted exemption." BSA|The Software Alliance also sought an exemption involving cars, for "good-faith security research [that] does not violate any applicable law." Repair entity iFixit asked the CO for "an expansion to all existing repair exemptions to allow third parties to provide service at the request of the owner" and contends "Sec. 1201(a) does not bar the creation and distribution of tools primarily intended for repair of devices that contain embedded software protected by technological measures."

The Copyright Office published a final rule that puts all regulations for the use of a copyright notice into a single location, said a notice Tuesday. The rule takes effect Oct. 12. "This rule, intended to simplify and streamline the regulations, makes no substantive changes to the regulations" and combines "regulations at 37 C.F.R. 201.20 to 37 C.F.R. 202.2 into one location in section 202.2," it said.

BMI distributed and administered a record $1.02 billion in royalties to composers, songwriters and publishers and had $1.13 billion in revenue to end FY 2017, said the performing rights organization's news release Thursday. Royalty distributions -- including domestic, international and direct deals that BMI administers on behalf of publishers -- were 10 percent higher from the prior fiscal year. Total domestic revenue, which included digital, media and general licensing, reached $836 million, up 7 percent. It said new long-term agreements with Netflix, Hulu and others helped boost digital revenue 7 percent to $163 million, while growth in terrestrial radio, cable and satellite radio categories upped media licensing revenue 6 percent to $524 million. The PRO processed nearly 1.4 trillion performances -- 1.35 trillion digital -- this year, up about 40 percent.

A Germany-based site that offered illegally "stream ripped" music with 60 million monthly global visitors shut down after legal actions by the U.K. and U.S. record industries, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry in a Thursday news release. Like similar sites, YouTube-mp3.org extracted audio files typically from music videos and offered them as "free permanent" downloads to users, said IFPI, adding stream ripping is the "most prevalent form of online music copyright infringement." It said the site made hundreds of thousands of dollars in ad revenue per month, but didn't pay anything to music artists and creators. Capitol Records, Sony, Warner Brothers and other companies settled Tuesday with YouTube-mp3 and its operator Philip Matesanz in the District Court for the Central District of California, said an order (in Pacer) agreed to by Judge André Birotte. The industry's complaint (in Pacer) was filed a year ago.

The Copyright Office released a modified, provisional IT modernization plan requested by the House Appropriations Committee in May, the office said in a news release Wednesday. The CO said the 2016 plan was modified to include ways to share efficiencies and cost-savings. It said the plan maintains its focus on creating a "robust and flexible" IT system that's "future-proofed, able to accommodate any future legal or regulatory responsibilities or structural changes for the Office that Congress deems necessary." The modified plan also includes new funding strategies "such as subscription fees, differential fees, or additional fees for high-volume access to improved and modernized data."