Section 111. Limitations on exclusive rights: Secondary transmissions._Copyright Law of the United States of America Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code

(a) Certain Secondary Transmissions Exempted.--The secondary

transmission of a primary transmission embodying a performance or

display of a work is not an infringement of copyright if--

(1) the secondary transmission is not made by a cable system, and

consists entirely of the relaying, by the management of a hotel,

apartment house, or similar establishment, or signals transmitted by a

broadcast station licensed by the Federal Communications Commission,

within the local service area of such station, to the private lodgings

of guests or residents of such establishment, and no direct charge is

made to see or hear the secondary transmission; or

(2) the secondary transmission is made solely for the purpose and under

the conditions specified by clause (2) of section 110; or

(3) the secondary transmission is made by any carrier who has no direct

or indirect control over the content or selection of the primary

transmission or over the particular recipients of the secondary

transmission, and whose activities with respect to the secondary

transmission consist solely of providing wires, cables, or other

communications channels for the use of others: Provided, That the

provisions of this clause extend only to the activities of said carrier

with respect to secondary transmissions and do not exempt from

liability the activities of others with respect to their own primary or

secondary transmissions; or

(4) the secondary transmission is not made by a cable system but is

made by a governmental body, or other nonprofit organization, without

any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, and without

charge to the recipients of the secondary transmission other than

assessments necessary to defray the actual and reasonable costs of

maintaining and operating the secondary transmission service.

(b) Secondary Transmission of Primary Transmission to Controlled

Group.--Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (a) and (c), the

secondary transmission to the public of a primary transmission

embodying a performance or display of a work is actionable as an act of

infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies

provided by sections 502 through 506 and 509, if the primary

transmission is not made for reception by the public at large but is

controlled and limited to reception by particular members of the

public; Provided, however, That such secondary transmission is not

actionable as an act of infringement if--

(1) the primary transmission is made by a broadcast station licensed by

the Federal Communication; and

(2) the carriage of the signals comprising the secondary transmission

is required under the rules, regulations, or authorizations of the

Federal Communications Commission; and

(3) the signal of the primary transmitter is not altered or changed in

any way by the secondary transmitter.

(1) Subject to the provisions of clauses (2), (3), and (4) of this

subsection, secondary transmissions to the public by a cable system of

a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the

Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental

authority of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance or display of

a work shall be subject to compulsory licensing upon compliance with

the requirements of subsection (d) where the carriage of the signals

comprising the secondary transmission is permissible under the rules,

regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection,

the willful or repeated secondary transmission to the public by a cable

system of a primary transmission made by a broadcast station licensed

by the Federal Communications Commission or by an appropriate

governmental authority of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance

or display of a work is actionable as an act of infringement under

section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections

502 through 506 and 509, in the following cases:

(A) where the carriage of the signals comprising the secondary

transmission is not permissible under the rules, regulations, or

authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission; or

(B) where the cable system has not recorded the notice specified by

subsection (d) and deposited the statement of account and royalty fee

required by subsection (d).

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection and

subject to the provisions of subsection (e) of this section, the

secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a primary

transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by the Federal

Communications Commission or by an appropriate governmental authority

of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance or display of a work is

actionable as an act of infringement under section 501, and is fully

subject to the remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and

sections 509 and 510, if the content of the particular program in which

the performance or display is embodied, or any commercial advertising

or station announcements transmitted by the primary transmitter during,

or immediately before or after, the transmission of such program, is in

any way willfully altered by the cable system through changes,

deletions, or additions, except for the alteration, deletion, or

substitution of commercial advertising market research: *Provided*,

That the research company has obtained the prior consent of the

advertiser who has purchased the original commercial advertisement, the

television station broadcasting that commercial advertisement, and the

cable system performing the secondary transmissions:

*And provided further*, That such commercial alteration, deletion, or

substitution is not performed for the purpose of deriving income from

the sale of that commercial time.

(4) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (1) of this subsection,

the secondary transmission to the public by a cable system of a primary

transmission made by a broadcast station licensed by an appropriate

governmental authority of Canada or Mexico and embodying a performance

or display of a work is actionable as an act of infringement under

section 501, and is fully subject to the remedies provided by sections

502 through 506 and section 509, if (A) with respect to Canadian

signals, the community of the cable system is located more than 150

miles for the United States-Canadian border and is also located south

of the forty-second parallel of latitude, or (B) with respect to

Mexican signals, the secondary transmission is made by a cable system

which received the primary transmission by means other than direct

interception of a free space radio wave emitted by such broadcast

television station, unless prior to April 15, 1976, such cable system

was actually carrying, or was specifically authorized to carry, the

signal of such foreign station on the system pursuant to the rules,

regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

(d) Compulsory License for Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems--

(1) For any secondary transmission to be subject to compulsory

licensing under subsection (c), the cable system shall, at least one

month before the date of the commencement of operations of the cable

system or within one hundred and eighty days after the enactment of

this Act, whichever is later, and thereafter within thirty days after

each occasion on which the ownership or control or the signal carriage

complement of the cable system changes, record in the Copyright Office

a notice including a statement of identity and address of the person

who owns or operates the secondary transmission service or has power to

exercise primary control over it, together with the name and location

of the primary transmitter or primary transmitters whose signals are

regularly carried by the cable system, and thereafter, from time to

time, such further information as the Register of Copyrights, after

consultation with the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (if and when the

Tribunal has been constituted), shall prescribe by regulation to carry

out the purpose of this clause.

(2) A cable system whose secondary transmissions have been subject to

compulsory licensing under subsection (c) shall, on a semiannual basis,

deposit with the Register of Copyrights, in accordance with

requirements that the Register shall, after consultation with the

constituted), prescribe by regulation--

(A) a statement of account, covering the six months next preceding,

specifying the number of channels on which the cable system made

secondary transmissions to its subscribers, the names and locations of

all primary transmitters whose transmissions to its subscribers, the

names and locations of all primary transmitters whose transmissions

were further transmitted by the cable system, the total number of

subscribers, the gross amounts paid to the cable system for the basic

service of providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast

transmitters, and such other data as the Register of Copyrights may,

after consultation with the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (if and when the

Tribunal has been constituted), from time to time prescribe by

regulation. Such statement shall also include a special statement of

account covering any nonnetwork television programming that was carried

by the cable system in whole or in part beyond the local service area

of the primary transmitter, under rules, regulations, or authorizations

of the Federal Communications Commission permitting the substitution or

addition of signals under certain circumstances, together with logs

showing the times, dates, stations, and programs involved in such

substituted or added carriage; and

(B) except in the case of a cable system whose royalty is specified in

subclause (C) or (D), a total royalty fee for the period covered by the

statement, computed on the basis of specified percentages of the gross

receipts from subscribers to the cable service during said period for

the basic service of providing secondary transmissions of primary

broadcast transmitters, as follows:

(i) 0.675 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the privilege of

further transmitting any nonnetwork programing of a primary transmitter

in whole or in part beyond the local service area of such primary

transmitter, such amount to be applied against the fee, if any, payable

pursuant to paragraphs (ii) through (iv);

(ii) 0.675 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the first distant

signal equivalent;

(iii) 0.425 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for each of the

second, third, and fourth distant signal equivalents;

(iv) 0.2 of 1 per centum of such gross receipts for the fifth distant

signal equivalent and each additional distant signal equivalent

thereafter; and in computing the amounts payable under paragraph (ii)

through (iv), above, any fraction of a distant signal equivalent shall

be computed at its fractional value and, in the case of any cable

system located partly within and partly without the local service area

of a primary transmitter, gross receipts shall be limited to those

gross receipts derived from subscribers located without the local

service area of such primary transmitter; and

for the period covered by the statement for the basic service of

providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters

total $80,000 or less, gross receipts of the cable system for the

purpose of this subclause shall be computed by subtracting from such

actual gross receipts the amount by which $80,000 exceeds such actual

gross receipts, except that in no case shall a cable system's gross

receipts be reduced to less that $3,000. The royalty fee payable under

this subclause shall be 0.5 of 1 per centum, regardless of the number

of distant signal equivalents, if any; and

(D) if the actual gross receipts paid by subscribers to a cable system

for the period covered by the statement, for the basic service of

providing secondary transmissions of primary broadcast transmitters,

are more than $80,000 but less than $160,000, the royalty fee payable

under this subclause shall be (i) 0.5 of 1 per centum of any gross

receipts up to $80,000; and (ii) 1 per centum of any gross receipts in

excess of $80,000 but less than $160,000, regardless of the number of

distant signal equivalents, if any.

(3) The Register of Copyrights shall receive all fees deposited under

this section and, after deducting the reasonable costs incurred by the

Treasury of the United States, in such manner as the Secretary of the

Treasury directs. All funds held by the Secretary of the Treasury

shall be invested in interest-bearing United States securities for

later distribution with interest by the Copyright Royalty Tribunal as

provided by this title. The Register shall submit to the Copyright

royalty Tribunal, on a semiannual basis, a compilation of all

statements of account covering the relevant six-month period provided

by clause (2) of this subsection.

(4) The royalty fees thus deposited shall, in accordance with the

procedures provided by clause (5), be distributed to those among the

following copyright owners who claim that their works were the subject

of secondary transmissions by cable systems during the relevant

semiannual period:

(A) any such owner whose work was included in a secondary transmission

made by a cable system of a nonnetwork television program in whole or

in part beyond the local service area of the primary transmitter; and

(B) any such owner whose work was included in a secondary transmission

identified in a special statement of account deposited under clause

(2)(A); and

consisting exclusively of aural signals carried by a cable system in

whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary

transmitter of such programs. (5) The royalty fees thus deposited

shall be distributed in accordance with the following procedures:

(A) During the month of July in each year, every person claiming to be

entitled to compulsory license fees for secondary transmissions shall

file a claim with the Copyright Royalty Tribunal, in accordance with

requirements that the Tribunal shall prescribe by regulation.

Notwithstanding any provisions of the antitrust laws, for purposes of

this clause any claimants may agree among themselves as to the

proportionate division of compulsory licensing fees among them, may

lump their claims together and file them jointly or as a single claim,

or may designate a common agent to receive payment on their behalf.

(B) After the first day of August of each year, the Copyright Royalty

Tribunal shall determine whether there exists a controversy concerning

the distribution of royalty fees. If the Tribunal determines that no

such controversy exists, it shall, after deducting its reasonable

administrative costs under this section, distribute such fees to the

Tribunal finds the existence of a controversy, it shall, pursuant to

chapter 8 of this title, conduct a proceeding to determine the

distribution of royalty fees.

sufficient to satisfy all claims with respect to which a controversy

exists, but shall have discretion to proceed to distribute any amounts

that are not in controversy.

(e) Nonsimultaneous Secondary Transmissions by Cable Systems.--

(1) Notwithstanding those provisions of the second paragraph of

subsection

(f) relating to nonsimultaneous secondary transmissions by a cable

system, any such transmissions are actionable as an act of infringement

under section 501, and are fully subject to the remedies provided by

sections 502 through 506 and sections 509 and 510, unless--

(A) the program on the videotape is transmitted no more than one time

to the cable system's subscribers; and

(B) the copyrighted program, episode, or motion picture videotape,

including the commercials contained within such program, episode, or

picture, is transmitted without deletion or editing; and

(i) prevents the duplication of the videotape while in the possession

of the system, (ii) prevents unauthorized duplication while in the

possession of the facility making the videotape for the system if the

system owns or controls the facility, or takes reasonable precautions

to prevent such duplication if it does not own or control the facility,

(iii) takes adequate precautions to prevent duplication while the tape

is being transported, and

(iv) subject to clause (2), erases or destroys, or causes the erasure

or destruction of, the videotape; and

(D) within forty-five days after the end of each calendar quarter, an

owner or officer of the cable system executes an affidavit attesting

(i) to the steps and precautions taken to prevent duplication of the

videotape, and (ii) subject to clause (2), to the erasure or

destruction of all videotapes made or used during such quarter; and

(E) such owner or officer places or causes each such affidavit, and

affidavits received pursuant to clause (2) (C), to be placed in a file,

open to public inspection, at such system's main office in the

community where the transmission is made or in the nearest community

where such system maintains an office; and

(F) the nonsimultaneous transmission is one that the cable system would

be authorized to transmit under the rules, regulations, and

authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission in effect at

the time of the nonsimultaneous transmission if the transmission had

been made simultaneously, except that this subclause shall not apply to

inadvertent or accidental transmissions.

(2) If a cable system transfers to any person a videotape of a program

nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, such transfer is actionable as an

act of infringement under section 501, and is fully subject to the

remedies provided by sections 502 through 506 and 509, except that,

pursuant to a written, nonprofit contract providing for the equitable

sharing of the costs of such videotape and its transfer, a videotape

nonsimultaneously transmitted by it, in accordance with clause (1), may

be transferred by one cable system in Alaska to another system in

Alaska, by one cable system in Hawaii permitted to make such

nonsimultaneous transmissions to another such cable system in Hawaii,

or by one cable system in Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or the

Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, to another cable system in any

of those three territories, if--

(A) each such contract is available for public inspection in the

offices of the cable systems involved, and a copy of such contract is

filed, within thirty days after such contract is entered into, with the

for public inspection); and

(B) the cable system to which the videotape is transferred complies

with clause (1)(A), (B), (C)(i), (iii), and (iv), and (D) through (F);

and

accordance with clause (1)(D) to each cable system making a previous

nonsimultaneous transmission of the same videotape.

(3) This subsection shall not be construed to supersede the exclusivity

protection provisions of any existing agreement, or any such agreement

hereafter entered into, between a cable system and a television

broadcast station in the area in which the cable system is located, or

a network with which such station is affiliated.

(4) As used in this subsection, the term "videotape," and each of its

variant forms, means the reproduction of the images and sounds of a

program or programs broadcast station licensed by the Federal

Communications Commission, regardless of the nature of the material

objects, such as tapes or films, in which the reproduction is embodied.

(f) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following terms and

their variant forms mean the following:

A "primary transmission" is a transmission made to the public by the

transmitting facility whose signals are being received and further

transmitted by the secondary transmission service, regardless of where

or when the performance or display was first transmitted.

A "secondary transmission" is the further transmitting of a primary

transmission simultaneously with the primary transmission, or

nonsimultaneously with the primary transmission if by a "cable system"

not located in whole or in part within the boundary of the forty-eight

contiguous States, Hawaii, or Puerto Rico: Provided, however, That a

nonsimultaneous further transmission by a cable system located in

Hawaii of a primary transmission shall be deemed to be a secondary

transmission if the carriage of the television broadcast signal

comprising such further transmission is permissible under the rules,

regulations, or authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission.

A "cable system" is a facility, located in any State, Territory, Trust

Territory, or Possession, that in whole or in part receives signals

transmitted or programs broadcast by one or more television broadcast

stations licensed by the Federal Communications Commission, and makes

secondary transmission of such signals or programs by wires, cables, or

other communications channels to subscribing members of the public who

pay for such service. For purposes of determining the royalty fee

under subsection (d)(2), two or more cable systems in contiguous

communities under common ownership or control or operating from one

headend shall be considered as one system.

The "local service area of a primary transmitter" in the case of a

television broadcast station, comprises the area in which such station

is entitled to insist upon its signal being retransmitted by a cable

system pursuant to the rules, regulation, and authorizations of the

Federal Communications Commission in effect on April 15, 1976, or in

the case of a television broadcast station licensed by an appropriate

governmental authority of Canada or Mexico, the area in which it would

be entitled to insist upon its signal being retransmitted if it were a

television broadcast station subject to such rules, regulations, and

authorizations.

The "local service area of a primary transmitter," in the case of a

radio broadcast station, comprises the primary service area of such

station pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Federal

Communications Commission.

"In the case of a low power television station, as defined by the rules

and regulations of the Federal Communications Commission, the 'local

service area of a primary transmitter' comprises the area within 35

miles of the transmitter site, except that in the case of such a

station located in a standard metropolitan statistical area which has

one of the 50 largest populations of all standard metropolitan

statistical areas (based on the 1980 decennial census of population

taken by the Secretary of Commerce), the number of miles shall be 20

miles."

A "distant signal equivalent" is the value assigned to the secondary

transmission of any nonnetwork television programing carried by a cable

system in whole or in part beyond the local service area of the primary

transmitter of such programing. It is computed by assigning a value of

one to each independent station and a value of one-quarter to each

network station and noncommercial educational station for the

nonnetwork programing so carried pursuant to the rules, regulations,

and authorizations of the Federal Communications Commission. The

foregoing values for independent, network, and noncommercial

educational stations are subject, however, to the following exceptions

and limitations. Where the rules and regulations of the Federal

Communications Commission require a cable system to omit the further

transmission of a particular program and such rules and regulations

also permit the substitution of another program embodying a performance

or display of a work in place of the omitted transmission, or where

such rules and regulations in effect on the date of enactment of this

Act permit a cable system, at its election, to effect such deletion and

substitution of a non-live program or to carry additional programs not

transmitted by primary transmitters within whose local service area the

cable system is located, no value shall be assigned for the substituted

or additional program; where the rules, regulations, or authorizations

of the Federal Communications Commission in effect on the date of

enactment of this Act permit a cable system, at its election, to omit

the further transmission of a particular program and such rules,

regulations, or authorizations also permit the substitution of another

program embodying a performance or display of a work in place of the

omitted transmission, the value assigned for the substituted or

additional program shall be, in the case of a live program, the value

of one full distant signal equivalent multiplied by a fraction that has

as its numerator the number of days in the year in which such

substitution occurs and as its denominator the number of days in the

year. In the case of a station carried pursuant to the late-night or

specialty programing rules of the Federal Communications Commission, or

a station carried on a part-time basis where full-time carriage is not

possible because the cable system lacks the activated channel capacity

to retransmit on a full-time basis all signals which it is authorized

to carry, the values for independent, network, and noncommercial

educational stations set forth above, as the case may be, shall be

multiplied by a fraction which is equal to the ratio of the broadcast

hours of such station carried by the cable system to the total

broadcast hours of the station.

A "network station" is a television broadcast station that is owned or

operated by, or affiliated with, one or more of the television networks

in the United States providing nationwide transmissions, and that

transmits a substantial part of the programing supplied by such

networks for a substantial part of that station's typical broadcast day.

An "independent station" is a commercial television broadcast station

other than a network station.

A "noncommercial educational system" is a television station that is a

noncommercial educational broadcast station as defined in section 397

of title 47.