Proposed Rule2024-29119
Electronic Payment of Royalties Using Pay.gov
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 12, 2024
Issuing agencies
Library of CongressCopyright Office, Library of Congress
Abstract
The Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulations regarding the submission of royalty fees to the Copyright Office to require that all such fees be paid using Pay.gov.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 239 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 239 (Thursday, December 12, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 100439-100440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29119]
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
U.S. Copyright Office
37 CFR Part 201
[Docket No. 2024-7]
Electronic Payment of Royalties Using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>
AGENCY: U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Copyright Office is proposing to amend its regulations
regarding the submission of royalty fees to the Copyright Office to
require that all such fees be paid using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>.
DATES: Written comments are due by January 13, 2025.
ADDRESSES: For reasons of government efficiency, the Copyright Office
is using the <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> system for the submission and posting of
public comments in this proceeding. All comments are therefore to be
submitted electronically through <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>. Specific instructions
for submitting comments are available on the Copyright Office website
at <a href="http://copyright.gov/rulemaking/royaltypayments">http://copyright.gov/rulemaking/royaltypayments</a>. If electronic
submission of comments is not feasible due to lack of access to a
computer and/or the internet, please contact the Office using the
contact information below for special instructions.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rhea Efthimiadis, Assistant to the
General Counsel, by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bdd0d8dbc9fdded2cdc4cfd4dad5c993dad2cb"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="1d70787b695d7e726d646f747a7569337a726b">[email protected]</span></a>, or by telephone at
202-707-8350.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 111 of the Copyright Act (``Act''),
title 17 of the United States Code, provides cable operators with a
statutory license to retransmit a performance or display of a work
embodied in a ``primary transmission'' made by a television station
licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (``FCC''). Cable
operators that retransmit broadcast signals in accordance with this
provision are required to pay royalty fees to the Copyright Office
(``Office''), among other requirements. Similarly, section 119 of the
Act provides satellite carriers with a statutory license to retransmit
certain primary transmissions if they satisfy certain criteria, for
which they also must pay royalty fees to the Office. In addition,
sections 1003 and 1004 of the Act require manufacturers and importers
of digital audio recording devices and digital audio recording media
(``DART'') to pay royalty fees to the Office.
In 2006, the Office issued a rule requiring those royalty payments
to be made using electronic funds transfer (``EFT'').\1\ As noted when
the rule was proposed, the use of EFT is beneficial to both the
remitter and the Office for four reasons.\2\ First, with Fedwire
transactions, remitters gain more time to transfer funds without fear
of incurring interest assessments for late payments. Second, electronic
payments avoid the problems associated with lost checks or delays in
processing mail. Third, copyright owners, the ultimate recipients of
the funds, accrue more interest because the monies go directly to the
Department of the Treasury instead of being diverted to the Copyright
Office for processing first. And finally, the Office benefits from the
use of the electronic payment option because it lessens its workload by
reducing paperwork and related administrative costs.
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\1\ Electronic Payment of Royalties, 71 FR 45739 (Aug. 10, 2006)
(final rule permitting remitters to choose between an Automated
Clearing House (``ACH'') credit and a Fedwire transfer). See 37 CFR
201.11(f)(1), 201.17(k)(1), 201.28(h)(1). In 2018, the Office issued
a rule allowing payments to be made with multiple EFT transfers, not
just a single payment. Streamlining Electronic Payment of DART
Royalty Accounts and Electronic Royalty Payment Processes, 83 FR
51840 (Oct. 15, 2018).
\2\ See Electronic Payment of Royalties, 71 FR 24829, 24829-30
(Apr. 27, 2006) (proposed rule).
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Now, as part of broader efforts to make its services digitized,
interconnected, searchable, and easier to navigate,\3\ the Office seeks
to further simplify the royalty payment process by requiring remitters
to use the U.S. Treasury Department's <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a> system to submit EFT
payments for all royalty and filing fees. In addition to the advantages
noted above, mandating the use of <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a> benefits both remitters and
the Office by (1) ensuring that the Office can receive, reconcile, and
post payments in the same transaction; (2) providing remitters with the
convenience of using a variety of methods, including credit or debit
[[Page 100440]]
cards, as a form of payment; and (3) eliminating the need for remitters
to separately complete the remittance advice form. Instead, they submit
the remittance advice form through <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a> at the same time they make
their payments. Thus, the proposed rule will allow more efficient
collection and allocation of royalty fees. It will also harmonize
payment regulations across services throughout the Office, which
already mandate the use of <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a> for non-royalty electronic
payments.\4\
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\3\ As part of this effort, the Office is reviewing its
regulations and updating them where necessary to reflect current and
anticipated practices. Among the regulations recently revised are
those requiring the use of <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a> for non-royalty payments and
those pertaining to statements of account for cable operators,
satellilte carriers, and DART remitters. See 37 CFR 201.6, 201.11,
201.17, 201.28; Statutory Cable, Satellite, and DART License
Reporting Practices (published elsewhere in this issue of the
Federal Register).
\4\ See 37 CFR 201.6(a)(1); Remitter Payment Options and Deposit
Account Requirements, 87 FR 59306 (Sept. 30, 2022) (final rule).
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The proposed rule does not alter the regulatory provisions allowing
the Office to waive the requirement of payment by EFT. However, as the
Office stated when it first required payment by EFT, waivers are ``for
those situations where there may be circumstances which make it
virtually impossible for a remitter to use the electronic payment
option or imposes a financial or other hardship.'' \5\
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\5\ 71 FR at 45739.
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To assist remitters unfamiliar with <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, the Office has created
tutorials to guide remitters, which are posted on the Licensing
Section's website.\6\
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\6\ United States Copyright Office, Circular 74, June 2022: How
to Make Statutory License Royalty EFT Payments Using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>,
<a href="https://copyright.gov/circs/circ74.pdf">https://copyright.gov/circs/circ74.pdf</a>; United States Copyright
Office, Make Statutory License Royalty Payments Using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>,
<a href="https://copyright.gov/licensing/eftpayment">https://copyright.gov/licensing/eftpayment</a>.
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List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 201
Copyright, General provisions.
Proposed Regulations
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, the Copyright Office
proposes amending 37 CFR part 201 as follows:
PART 201--GENERAL PROVISIONS
0
1. The authority citation for part 201 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 702.
0
2. Amend Sec. 201.11 by revising paragraphs (f)(1) and (h)(3)(iv) to
read as follows:
Sec. 201.11 Satellite carrier statements of account covering
statutory licenses for secondary transmissions.
* * * * *
(f) * * *
(1) All royalty fees shall be paid by electronic funds transfer
using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, and payment must be received in the designated bank by
the filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. Satellite
carriers must provide specific information as part of the EFT and as
part of the remittance advice, as listed in the instructions for
<a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, the Statement of Account form, and the Office's website.
* * * * *
(h) * * *
(3) * * *
(iv)(A) All requests filed under this paragraph (h) must be
accompanied by a filing fee in the amount prescribed in Sec. 201.3(e)
of this part for each Statement of Account involved. Payment of this
fee must be by EFT using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No request will be processed until
the appropriate filing fees are received.
(B) All requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be
received for deposit under this paragraph (h) must be accompanied by a
remittance in the full amount of such fee. Payment of the supplemental
royalty fee must be by EFT using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No such request will be
processed until an acceptable remittance in the full amount of the
supplemental royalty fee has been received.
* * * * *
0
3. Amend Sec. 201.17 by revising paragraphs (k)(1) and (l)(4)(iv)(A)
and (B) to read as follows:
Sec. 201.17 Statements of Account covering compulsory licenses for
secondary transmissions by cable systems.
* * * * *
(k) * * *
(1) All royalty fees must be paid by electronic funds transfer
(EFT) using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, and must be received in the designated bank by the
filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. Cable systems must
provide specific information as part of the EFT and as part of the
remittance advice, as listed in the instructions for <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, the
Statement of Account form and on the Office's website.
* * * * *
(l) * * *
(4) * * *
(iv)(A) All requests filed under this paragraph (l) must be
accompanied by a filing fee in the amount prescribed in Sec. 201.3(e)
of this part for each Statement of Account involved. Payment of this
fee must be made by an electronic payment using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No request
will be processed until the appropriate filing fees are received; and
(B) All requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be
received for deposit under this paragraph (l) must be accompanied by a
remittance in the full amount of such fee. Payment of the supplemental
royalty fee must be by an electronic payment using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No such
request will be processed until an acceptable remittance in the full
amount of the supplemental royalty fee has been received.
* * * * *
0
4. Amend Sec. 201.28 by revising paragraphs (h)(1) and (j)(3)(v) to
read as follows:
Sec. 201.28 Statements of Account for digital audio recording devices
or media.
* * * * *
(h) * * *
(1) All royalty fees must be paid by electronic funds transfer
(EFT) using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, and must be received in the designated bank by the
filing deadline for the relevant accounting period. Remitters must
provide specific information as part of the EFT and as part of the
remittance advice, as listed in the instructions for <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>, the
Statement of Account form, and the Office's website.
* * * * *
(j) * * *
(3) * * *
(v)(A) The request must be accompanied by a filing fee in the
amount prescribed in Sec. 201.3(e) for each Statement of Account
involved. Payment of this fee must be by EFT using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No request
will be processed until the appropriate filing fees are received.
(B) Requests that a supplemental royalty fee payment be deposited
must be accompanied by a remittance in the full amount of such fee.
Payment of the supplemental royalty fee must be by electronic payment
using <a href="http://Pay.gov">Pay.gov</a>. No such request will be processed until an acceptable
remittance in the full amount of the supplemental royalty fee has been
received.
* * * * *
Dated: December 5, 2024.
Suzy Wilson,
General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights.
[FR Doc. 2024-29119 Filed 12-11-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-30-P
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