Copyright Royalty Judges

The Copyright Royalty Judges, who make up the Library of Congress’ Copyright Royalty Board, were established under the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 108-418). The Copyright Royalty Judges were created to replace copyright arbitration royalty panels and to make determinations and adjustments of reasonable terms and rates of certain royalty payments under certain sections of Title 17 of the United States Code. Other duties assigned to the Judges included making determinations concerning the adjustment of the copyright royalty rates; authorizing certain royalty fees collected to the extent that the Copyright Royalty Judges find that the distribution of such fees is not subject to controversy; accepting or rejecting certain royalty claims filed on the basis of timeliness or the failure to establish the basis for a claim; accepting or rejecting rate adjustment petitions and petitions to participate; determining the status of a digital audio recording device or a digital audio interface device; adopting as a basis for statutory terms and rates or as a basis for the distribution of statutory royalty payments, an agreement concerning such matters reached among some or all of the participants in a proceeding at any time during the proceeding; and performing other duties, as assigned by the Register of Copyrights within the Library of Congress.