United States Code/Title 17/Chapter 1/Section 118
(a) The exclusive rights provided by section 106 shall, with respect to the works specified by subsection (b) and the activities specified by subsection (d), be subject to the conditions and limitations prescribed by this section.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the antitrust laws, any owners of copyright in published nondramatic musical works and published pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works and any public broadcasting entities, respectively, may negotiate and agree upon the terms and rates of royalty payments and the proportionate division of fees paid among various copyright owners, and may designate common agents to negotiate, agree to, pay, or receive payments.
- (1) Any owner of copyright in a work specified in this subsection or any public broadcasting entity may submit to the Copyright Royalty Judges proposed licenses covering such activities with respect to such works.
- (2) License agreements voluntarily negotiated at any time between one or more copyright owners and one or more public broadcasting entities shall be given effect in lieu of any determination by the Librarian of Congress or the Copyright Royalty Judges, if copies of such agreements are filed with the Copyright Royalty Judges within 30 days of execution in accordance with regulations that the Copyright Royalty Judges shall issue.
- (3) Voluntary negotiation proceedings initiated pursuant to a petition filed under section 804(a) for the purpose of determining a schedule of terms and rates of royalty payments by public broadcasting entities to owners of copyright in works specified by this subsection and the proportionate division of fees paid among various copyright owners shall cover the 5-year period beginning on January 1 of the second year following the year in which the petition is filed. The parties to each negotiation proceeding shall bear their own costs.
- (4) In the absence of license agreements negotiated under paragraph (2) or (3), the Copyright Royalty Judges shall, pursuant to chapter 8, conduct a proceeding to determine and publish in the Federal Register a schedule of rates and terms which, subject to paragraph (2), shall be binding on all owners of copyright in works specified by this subsection and public broadcasting entities, regardless of whether such copyright owners have submitted proposals to the Copyright Royalty Judges. In establishing such rates and terms the Copyright Royalty Judges may consider the rates for comparable circumstances under voluntary license agreements negotiated as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3). The Copyright Royalty Judges shall also establish requirements by which copyright owners may receive reasonable notice of the use of their works under this section, and under which records of such use shall be kept by public broadcasting entities.
(c) Subject to the terms of any voluntary license agreements that have been negotiated as provided by subsection (b)(2) or (3), a public broadcasting entity may, upon compliance with the provisions of this section, including the rates and terms established by the Copyright Royalty Judges under subsection (b)(4), engage in the following activities with respect to published nondramatic musical works and published pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works:
- (1) performance or display of a work by or in the course of a transmission made by a noncommercial educational broadcast station referred to in subsection (f); and
- (2) production of a transmission program, reproduction of copies or phonorecords of such a transmission program, and distribution of such copies or phonorecords, where such production, reproduction, or distribution is made by a nonprofit institution or organization solely for the purpose of transmissions specified in paragraph (1); and
- (3) the making of reproductions by a governmental body or a nonprofit institution of a transmission program simultaneously with its transmission as specified in paragraph (1), and the performance or display of the contents of such program under the conditions specified by paragraph (1) of section 110, but only if the reproductions are used for performances or displays for a period of no more than seven days from the date of the transmission specified in paragraph (1), and are destroyed before or at the end of such period. No person supplying, in accordance with paragraph (2), a reproduction of a transmission program to governmental bodies or nonprofit institutions under this paragraph shall have any liability as a result of failure of such body or institution to destroy such reproduction:
- Provided, That it shall have notified such body or institution of the requirement for such destruction pursuant to this paragraph:
- And provided further, That if such body or institution itself fails to destroy such reproduction it shall be deemed to have infringed.
(d) Except as expressly provided in this subsection, this section shall have no applicability to works other than those specified in subsection (b). Owners of copyright in nondramatic literary works and public broadcasting entities may, during the course of voluntary negotiations, agree among themselves, respectively, as to the terms and rates of royalty payments without liability under the antitrust laws. Any such terms and rates of royalty payments shall be effective upon filing with the Copyright Royalty Judges, in accordance with regulations that the Copyright Royalty Judges shall prescribe as provided in section 803(b)(6).
(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit, beyond the limits of fair use as provided by section 107, the unauthorized dramatization of a nondramatic musical work, the production of a transmission program drawn to any substantial extent from a published compilation of pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, or the unauthorized use of any portion of an audiovisual work.
(f) As used in this section, the term "public broadcasting entity" means a noncommercial educational broadcast station as defined in section 397 of title 47 and any nonprofit institution or organization engaged in the activities described in paragraph (2) of subsection (c).
Amendment history
[edit]Section 118 was added by § 101 of title I of the Copyright Act of 1976 (Pub. L. No. 94-553, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2541), with effect from January 1, 1978.
Pub. L. 103-198, 107 Stat. 2304
- Amended subsection (b) by deleting the first two sentences.
- Amended paragraph (b)(3) by substituting new text for the first sentence.
- Made consequential amendments.
113 Stat. 221
- Deleted paragraph (e)(2).
Pub. L. No. 107-273, 116 Stat. 1758
- Amended subsection (b)(1) by deleting "to it" in the second sentence.
Pub. L. No. 108-419, Nov. 30, 2004, 118 Stat. 2341
- Amended paragraph (b)(1) by substituting "Copyright Royalty Judges" for "Librarian of Congress" in the first sentence and by deleting the second and third sentences.
- Substituted new text for paragraph (b)(2). Previous text read:
- "(2) License agreements voluntarily negotiated at any time between one or more copyright owners and one or more public broadcasting entities shall be given effect in lieu of any determination by the Librarian of Congress: Provided, That copies of such agreements are filed in the Copyright Office within thirty days of execution in accordance with regulations that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe."
- (C) in paragraph (3)—
- (i) in the second sentence—
- substituted new text for paragraph (b)(3). Previous text read:
- "(3) In the absence of license agreements negotiated under paragraph (2), the Librarian of Congress shall, pursuant to chapter 8, convene a copyright arbitration royalty panel to determine and publish in the Federal Register a schedule of rates and terms which, subject to paragraph (2), shall be binding on all owners of copyright in works specified by this subsection and public broadcasting entities, regardless of whether such copyright owners have submitted proposals to the Librarian of Congress. In establishing such rates and terms the copyright arbitration royalty panel may consider the rates for comparable circumstances under voluntary license agreements negotiated as provided in paragraph (2). The Librarian of Congress shall also establish requirements by which copyright owners may receive reasonable notice of the use of their works under this section, and under which records of such use shall be kept by public broadcasting entities."
- Added paragraph (b)(4).
- Deleted old subsection (c). Previous text read:
- "(c) The initial procedure specified in subsection (b) shall be repeated and concluded between June 30 and December 31, 1997, and at five-year intervals thereafter, in accordance with regulations that the Librarian of Congress shall prescribe."
- Renumbered old subsections (d) to (g) as new subsections (c) to (f).
- Amended new subsection (c) by substituting "(b)(2) or (3)" for "(b)(2)" and "the Copyright Royalty Judges under subsection (b)(3), to the extent that they were accepted by the Librarian of Congress" for "a copyright arbitration royalty panel under subsection (b)(3)" in the matter preceding paragraph (c)(1).
- Amended new subsection (d) by substituting "with the Copyright Royalty Judges" for "in the Copyright Office" and "Copyright Royalty Judges shall prescribe as provided in section 803(b)(6)" for "Register of Copyrights shall prescribe".
- Amended new subsection (f) by substituting "(c)" for "(d)".
- Pub. L. 109-303, § 4(d), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1482; amended . . .
- Subsec. (b)(3). Pub. L. 109–303, § 4(d)(1), substituted “owners of copyright in works” for “copyright owners in works”.
- Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 109–303, § 4(d)(2), substituted “established by the Copyright Royalty Judges under subsection (b)(4), engage” for “established by the Copyright Royalty Judges under subsection (b)(4), to the extent that they were accepted by the Librarian of Congress, engage” in introductory provisions, and substituted “subsection (f)” for “subsection (g)” in par. (1).