Big news for the future of webcasting: based upon the Recommendation of the Register of Copyrights (Marybeth Peters), the Librarian of Congress (James H. Billington) has issued an Order rejecting the Panel’s determination proposing rates and terms for webcasters.

The Librarian of Congress now has 30 days to issue his final determination (June 20, 2002).The details below were excerpted from “U.S. Copyright Office NewsNet Issue 161″ newsletter:

Librarian of Congress Rejects CARP Determination on Webcasting Rates and Terms
The Librarian of Congress has rejected the determination of the Copyight Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) recommending rates and terms for the statutory license for eligible nonsubscription services to perform sound recordings publicly by means of digital audio transmissions ("webcasting") under 17 U.S.C. §114 and to make ephemeral recordings of sound recordings for use under the statutory license set forth in 17 U.S.C. §112. The Librarian’s final determination on rates and terms will be due on June 20, 2002.
The text of the Librarian’s Order may be found on the Copyright Office website at:
http://www.copyright.gov/carp/.

Resources:

• Order from the Librarian of Congress/Recommendation from the Register of Copyrightsopyright.gov/carp/webcasting-rates-order.html)
• U.S. Copyright Office NewsNet
  (http://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/subchange.html)
• U.S. Copyright Office Announcement of the rejection
  (http://www.copyright.gov/carp/webcasting_rates-new.html)