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sound recording. It is not intended that copyright protection for sound recordings be circumscribed by requiring the owners of sound recordings to grant a compulsory license to unauthorized duplicators or others.
The second clause of subsection (a) is intended to recognize the practical need for a limited privilege to make arrangements of music being used under a compulsory license, but without allowing the music to be perverted, distorted, or travestied. Clause (2) permits arrangements of a work “to the extent necessary to conform it to the style or manner of interpretation of the performance involved,” so long as it does not “change the basic melody or fundamental character of the work.” The provision also prohibits the compulsory licensee from claiming an independent copyright in his arrangement as a “derivative work” without the express consent of the copyright owner.
Procedure for obtaining compulsory license
Section 115(b)(1) requires anyone who wishes to take advantage of the compulsory licensing provisions to serve a “notice of intention to obtain a compulsory license,” which is much like the “notice of intention to use” required by the present law. Under section 115, the notice must be served before any phonorecords are distributed, but service can take place “before or within 30 days after making” any phonorecords. The notice is to be served on the copyright owner, but if the owner is not identified in the Copyright Office records, “it shall be sufficient to file the notice of intention in the Copyright Office.”
The Committee deleted clause (2) of section 115(b) of S. 22 as adopted by the Senate. The provision was a vestige of jukebox provisions in earlier bills, and its requirements no longer served any useful purpose.
Clause (2) [formerly clause (3)] of section 115(b) provides that “failure to serve or file the notice required by clause (1) * * * forecloses the possibility of a compulsory license and, in the absence of a negotiated license, renders the making and distribution of phonorecords actionable as acts of infringement under section 501 and fully subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506.” The remedies provided in section 501 are those applicable to infringements generally.
Royalty payable under compulsory license
Identification of copyright owner.—Under the present law a copyright owner is obliged to file a “notice of use” in the Copyright Office, stating that the initial recording of the copyrighted work has been made or licensed, in order to recover against an unauthorized record manufacturer. This requirement has resulted in a technical loss of rights in some cases, and serves little or no purpose where the registration and assignment records of the Copyright Office already show the facts of ownership. Section 115(c)(1) therefore drops any formal “notice of use” requirements and merely provides that, “to be entitled to receive royalties under a compulsory license, the copyright owner must be identified in the registration or other public records of the Copyright Office.” On the other hand, since proper identification is an important precondition of recovery, the bill further provides that “the owner is entitled to royalties for phonorecords manufactured and
