Laws: Cases and Codes : U.S. Code : Title 17 : Section 118


   
U.S. Code as of: 01/19/04
Section 118. Scope of exclusive rights: Use of certain works in connection with noncommercial broadcasting

      (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
      Librarian of Congress proposed licenses covering such activities
      with respect to such works. The Librarian of Congress shall
      proceed on the basis of the proposals submitted as well as any
      other relevant information. The Librarian of Congress shall
      permit any interested party to submit information relevant to
      such proceedings.
        (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.
        (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.

      (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.
      (d) Subject to the terms of any voluntary license agreements that
    have been negotiated as provided by subsection (b)(2), a public
    broadcasting entity may, upon compliance with the provisions of
    this section, including the rates and terms established by a
    copyright arbitration royalty panel under subsection (b)(3), 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 (g); 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.

      (e) 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 in the Copyright Office, in accordance
    with regulations that the Register of Copyrights shall prescribe.
      (f) 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.
      (g) 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 (d).



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