RIAA SET TO APPEAL DECISON ON WEBCAST RATES

The trade org announced its intent to file a court appeal of the June 20 decision by the Librarian of Congress on royalty rates for webcasts. The notice of intent was officially filed with the DC Circuit Court late yesterday, the deadline for all parties to alert the court whether they intend to appeal. Actual briefs will be filed later in the year.

The RIAA is arguing that the Librarian's interpretation of the deal with Yahoo! was incorrect, and that the Librarian improperly threw out 140 licensing deals that the record companies and RIAA signed with other webcasters and similiar companies.

The RIAA is insisting that the Librarian of Congress was "duped" by Yahoo!'s "self-serving" testimony in the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels) to lower the rate that would be paid for its Internet-only transmissions. The org claims the Librarian mistakenly concluded that Yahoo!'s business model was unique, assuming, unlike webcasters that create their own programming, the search engine/portal "merely offers programming by AM/FM radio stations and other webcasters."

The RIAA countered that, at the time Yahoo! testified, it had already acquired Launch.com and intended to commit significant resources to Internet radio, and had only downplayed its Internet-only business during the CARP in order to obtain a lower royalty rate, and in fact, days after the Librarian's decision, announced it was closing down its entire radio retransmission business.

The RIAA added, "If the Librarian had correctly based his decision on Yahoo!'s actual business plans rather than the firm's self-serving testimony, the final royalty rate would have been significantly higher."

The org went on to claim the Librarian ignored "25 separate licensing agreements the RIAA had previously agreed to and submitted as evidence, as well as 115 similar deals signed by the individual record companies. If these agreements, all of which represented rates born by a fair market, were appropriately considered by the Librarian, the final royalty rate would have been significantly higher."

RIAA uberleader Rosen added: "The Librarian's decision was based on a misguided reading of the record. Not only was improper weight given to the testimony of Yahoo! but some 140 separate licensing deals were thrown out by the Librarian. The end result significantly undervalued the music used by Internet radio companies."

In addition, AFTRA (American Federation of TV and Radio Artists) filed a separate intent to appeal at the same time. Yesterday was the deadline for filing such notices with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.