17
U.S.C. § 1003. Obligation to make royalty
payments
(a) Prohibition on importation and manufacture. No
person shall import into and distribute, or manufacture and distribute, any
digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium unless such
person records the notice specified by this section and subsequently deposits
the statements of account and applicable royalty payments for such device or
medium specified in section 1004.
(b) Filing of notice. The importer or manufacturer of any digital audio
recording device or digital audio recording medium, within a product category
or utilizing a technology with respect to which such manufacturer or importer
has not previously filed a notice under this subsection, shall file with the
Register of Copyrights a notice with respect to such device or medium, in such
form and content as the Register shall prescribe by regulation.
(c) Filing of quarterly and annual statements of account.
(1) Generally. Any importer or manufacturer that distributes
any digital audio recording device or digital audio recording medium that it
manufactured or imported shall file with the Register of Copyrights, in such
form and content as the Register shall prescribe by regulation, such quarterly
and annual statements of account with respect to such distribution as the
Register shall prescribe by regulation.
(2) Certification, verification, and confidentiality. Each
such statement shall be certified as accurate by an authorized officer or
principal of the importer or manufacturer. The Register shall issue regulations
to provide for the verification and audit of such statements and to protect the
confidentiality of the information contained in such statements. Such
regulations shall provide for the disclosure, in confidence, of such statements
to interested copyright parties.
(3) Royalty payments. Each such statement shall be
accompanied by the royalty payments specified in section 1004.
17
U.S.C. § 1004. Royalty payments
(a) Digital
audio recording devices.
(1) Amount of payment. The royalty payment due under section 1003
for each digital audio recording device imported into and distributed in the
United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 2
percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and
distribute or import and distribute such device shall be required to pay the
royalty with respect to such device.
(2) Calculation for devices distributed with other devices.
With respect to a digital audio recording device first distributed in
combination with one or more devices, either as a physically integrated unit or
as separate components, the royalty payment shall be calculated as follows:
(A) If the digital audio recording device and such
other devices are part of a physically integrated unit, the royalty payment
shall be based on the transfer price of the unit, but shall be reduced by any
royalty payment made on any digital audio recording device included within the
unit that was not first distributed in combination with the unit.
(B) If the digital audio recording device is not part
of a physically integrated unit and substantially similar devices have been
distributed separately at any time during the preceding 4 calendar quarters,
the royalty payment shall be based on the average transfer price of such
devices during those 4 quarters.
(C) If the digital audio recording device is not part
of a physically integrated unit and substantially similar devices have not been
distributed separately at any time during the preceding 4 calendar quarters,
the royalty payment shall be based on a constructed price reflecting the
proportional value of such device to the combination as a whole.
(3) Limits on royalties. Notwithstanding paragraph (1) or
(2), the amount of the royalty payment for each digital audio recording device
shall not be less than $ 1 nor more than the royalty maximum. The royalty
maximum shall be $ 8 per device, except that in the case of a physically
integrated unit containing more than 1 digital audio recording device, the
royalty maximum for such unit shall be $ 12. During the 6th year after the
effective date of this chapter [Oct. 28, 1992], and not more than once each
year thereafter, any interested copyright party may petition the Librarian of
Congress to increase the royalty maximum and, if more than 20 percent of the
royalty payments are at the relevant royalty maximum, the Librarian of Congress
shall prospectively increase such royalty maximum with the goal of having no
more than 10 percent of such payments at the new royalty maximum; however the
amount of any such increase as a percentage of the royalty maximum shall in no
event exceed the percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index during the
period under review.
(b) Digital audio recording media. The royalty payment due under section
1003 for each digital audio recording medium imported into and distributed in
the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall
be 3 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and
distribute or import and distribute such medium shall be required to pay the
royalty with respect to such medium.