MUMBAI: Motion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman issued the following statement in support of language in the House Omnibus Appropriations bill that ensures copyright owners and creators are not forced to subsidize unrelated costs incurred by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB). For the past two years, copyright royalties that rightfully belong to copyright owners and creators have been unfairly raided to underwrite CRB administrative costs.
The statement is as under:
“The motion picture industry joins other copyright holders and creators in thanking Legislative Branch Subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other House appropriators for ensuring that we are not forced to subsidize CRB expenses that have not been incurred by us.”
“Federal law forces a vast group of copyright owners from musicians, songwriters and music publishers to movie studios, sports leagues and television programming distributors to license their creations at government-set, below-market rates. This already unfair compulsory licensing scheme was made worse when the previous Congress used satellite, cable, and DART royalties to pay for all Copyright Royalty Board administrative expenses, including salary and benefits costs for the judges and employees.”
“Creators shouldn’t be forced to have their government-set, below-market royalties further diluted by paying for unrelated CRB expenses. We applaud this Congress for removing the unfair burden on creators by appropriating the necessary and required funds to cover CRB salary and benefits. In keeping with this Congressional action, we are confident the Library of Congress will act to minimize its use of copyright royalty pools to pay for other CRB costs.”
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