Court denies stay of Internet radio execution
By Cade Metz in San Francisco
Published Thursday 12th July 2007 18:50 GMT
The Internet radio death watch continues. Late yesterday, a federal appeals court denied an emergency stay petition from webcasters, refusing to delay the arrival of massive royalty hikes that threaten to bring down online radio as we know it. The new royalty rates - which could mean a 300 per cent payment increase for large stations, 1200 per cent for smaller broadcasters - are due to kick in this Sunday.
The stay was rejected with a single sentence from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. "Petitioners have not satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review," the order read.
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In March, the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board set down new royalty rates that would require webcasters to pay 8 hundredths of a cent each time they broadcast a song to an individual listener. That's $0.0008 per song per listener - and it's retroactive to the beginning of 2006. According to Ward, this amounts to a 300 per cent rake hike for the even the largest Internet radio stations, 1,200 per cent for the smallest webcasters. Most, he says, could not afford to stay in business. By 2010, rates are scheduled to hit $0.0019 per song per listener.
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And then there is the whole issue of retroactivity? By making it retroactive, will any new works be created?
No, they will not.
We have copyright to "encourage the useful arts and sciences", to quote the constitution.
IP law is public interest law in the US. That's how the constitution defines it, and why it allows it.
Under the current IP regime, Moby Dick would never have been reprinted after its initial publication, and there would be no Shakespeare at all. Both were rediscovered after the author's deaths.
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