Page:H. Rept. No. 94-1733 (1976).djvu/77

 as to whether copyright protection for sound recordings should be expanded to include performing rights.

Conference substitute

The conference substitute adopts the House amendments of section 114.

Senate bill

The Senate bill provided in section 115 for a compulsory licensing system governing the making and distributing of phonorecords of copyrighted musical compositions. In general, subject to certain conditions and limitations, as soon as authorized phonorecords of a work have been publicly distributed, anyone could make phonorecords and distribute them to the public by following a compulsory licensing procedure and paying to the copyright owner a specified royalty. Under the Senate bill, the royalty would be payable on each record ‘‘manufactured and distributed,’’ and would amount to two and one-half cents per composition, or one-half cent per minute of playing time, whichever is larger.

House bill

In addition to certain technical clarifications and procedural amendments, the House bill set the royalty at two and three-fourths cents per composition or six-tenths of a cent per minute; the royalty was made payable on each phonorecord ‘‘made and distributed,’’ and a phonorecord would be considered ‘‘distributed’’ if the compulsory licensee has ‘‘voluntarily and permanently parted with its possession.’’

Conference substitute

The conference substitute adopts the House amendments except for the royalty rate to be applied in cases where the playing time of a composition governs; the rate in such cases is set at one-half cent per minute, the rate in the Senate bill.

Senate bill

Section 118 of the Senate bill granted to public broadcasting a compulsory license for the performance or display of nondramatic musical works, pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works, and nondramatic literary works, subject to the payment of reasonable royalty fees to be set by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal. The Senate bill required that public broadcasters, at periodic intervals, file a notice with the Copyright Office containing information required by the Register of Copyrights, and deposit a statement of account and the total royalty fees for the period covered by the statement. The Register was to receive claims to payment of royalty fees, and to distribute any amounts not in dispute; controversies were to be settled by the Tribunal, which was also charged with reviewing and, if appropriate, adjusting the royalty rates in 1980 and at ten year intervals thereafter. Sec. 113 of the Transitional and Supplementary provisions would start the machinery for establishment of the initial rates immediately upon enactment of the new law. Section 118 (f) also contained a provision permitting nonprofit educational institutions to