HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

As we previously noted, it was recently reported that in the midst of the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) hearings, the publishers, record labels and digital music providers (DiMA) agreed to a settlement on the royalty rates for limited downloads and Internet streaming, that are scheduled to ratified this October by the CRB. Given the sides’ position throughout the process on this issue was so far apart, it seemed as though these rates, in particular, would certainly be left to be decided by the CRB judges. But in the wake of this news of agreement, the logical conclusion is that the parties agreed on a revenue equation for the rates, as has been the case in other countries for publishing royalties, where the publishers are guaranteed the greater of a certain percentage of revenue or an amount per subscriber, download, stream, play, etc. Continue Reading »

A few months back, we wrote about Congress jumping into the debate over “net neutrality” with the introduction of a bill directing the FCC to assess the extent and impact of efforts by broadband providers to police internet traffic, impeding connections and access based on content and activity. (See “A Congressional Foray Into the Net Neutrality Debate“).  Continue Reading »