Copyright Office Publishes Final Rule for Cable and Satellite Statement of Account Fees | Practical Law

Copyright Office Publishes Final Rule for Cable and Satellite Statement of Account Fees | Practical Law

The US Copyright Office has published a final rule setting out a fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account.

Copyright Office Publishes Final Rule for Cable and Satellite Statement of Account Fees

by Practical Law Intellectual Property & Technology
Published on 02 Dec 2013 • USA (National/Federal)
The US Copyright Office has published a final rule setting out a fee schedule for filing cable and satellite statements of account.
On November 29, 2013, the US Copyright Office published a final rule establishing the statement of account (SOA) fees for cable and satellites in accordance with the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act of 2010. This rule takes into account public comments the Copyright Office received in response to its March 29, 2012 and December 6, 2012 notices of proposed rulemaking (78 Fed. Reg. 71498-01 (Nov. 29, 2013)).
This rulemaking sets the fees for processing of a SOA based on secondary transmissions of primary transmissions under either:
The Office has set a three-tiered fee structure that apportions the costs between SOA filers and copyright owners:
  • The fee for licensees who file the SA1 form is set at $15.
  • The fee for cable systems filing the SA2 form is set at $20.
  • Each of the cable SA3 filing fee and satellite filing fee is set at $725. The $725 fee also takes into account that the SA3 forms reflect substantial royalty payments that exceed those collected with SA1 and SA2 forms.
Notably, the Office did not opt to create a hardship fee for smaller cable operators that file SA3 forms, finding both that:
  • The SOA fees are set to reflect the Office's costs.
  • While there may be a fewer number of small cable operators filing SA3 forms, the Office spends the same amount of time processing SA3 forms regardless of the size of the operator filing the form.
This rule is effective January 1, 2014.