The opinion
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
Argued March 12, 2010 Decided June 22, 2010
No. 09-1075
RECORDING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC.,
APPELLANT
v.
LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS,
APPELLEE
NATIONAL MUSIC PUBLISHERS’ ASSOCIATION, INC.,
SONGWRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA, AND NASHVILLE
SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL,
INTERVENORS
Consolidated with 09-1205
On Appeal of an Order of the Copyright Royalty Board
Paul M. Smith argued the cause for appellant. With him
on the briefs were Steven R. Englund, Jared O. Freedman,
Lindsay C. Harrison, Steven M. Marks, Susan B. Chertkof,
and Scott A. Zebrak. David A. Handzo entered an appearance.
Kelsi Brown Corkran, U.S. Department of Justice, argued
the cause for appellee. With her on the brief were Tony West,
2
Assistant Attorney General, and Scott R. McIntosh, Attorney.
Sarang V. Damle, Attorney, entered an appearance.
Jay Cohen argued the cause for intervenors National
Music Publishers’ Association, Inc., et al. With him on the
brief were Lynn B. Bayard, David W. Brown, Jay Rosenthal,
Senior Vice-President & General Counsel, National Music
Publishers’ Association, Inc., Kathryn E. Wagner, Vice
President & Counsel, National Music Publishers’ Association,
Inc., Charles J. Sanders, Special Counsel, Songwriters Guild
of America, and Carl W. Hampe.
Before: GARLAND and KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judges, and
RANDOLPH, Senior Circuit Judge.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge
KAVANAUGH.
KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge: By law, the Copyright
Royalty Board sets the terms and rates for copyright royalties
when copyright owners and licensees fail to negotiate terms
and rates themselves. As part of its statutory mandate, the
Board sets royalty terms and rates for what is known as the §
115 statutory license. That license allows individuals to make
their own recordings of copyrighted musical works for
distribution to the public without the consent of the copyright
owner.
In carrying out its statutory responsibilities under 17
U.S.C. § 115, the Board instituted a 1.5 percent per month late
fee for late royalty payments. It also implemented a penny-
rate royalty structure for cell phone ringtones, under which
copyright owners receive 24 cents for every ringtone sold
using their copyrighted work.
3
The Recording Industry Association of America
challenges those two aspects of the Board’s decision, arguing
that they were arbitrary and capricious for purposes of the
Administrative Procedure Act. We conclude that the Board’s
decision was reasonable and reasonably explained. We
therefore affirm the Board’s determination.
I
A
Most songs played on the radio, sold on CDs in music
stores, or digitally available on the Internet through services
like iTunes embody two distinct copyrights – a copyright in
the “musical work” and a copyright in the “sound recording.”
See 17 U.S.C. § 102. The musical work is the musical
composition – the notes and lyrics of the song as they appear
on sheet music. The sound recording is the recorded musical
work performed by a specific artist.
Although almost always intermingled in a single song,
those two copyrights are legally distinct and may be owned
and licensed separately. One party might own the copyright
in the words and musical arrangement of a song, and another
party might own the copyright in a particular artist’s
recording of those words and musical notes.
This case involves licenses in a limited category of
copyrighted musical works – as opposed to sound recordings.
Section 115 of the Copyright Act allows an individual to
make and distribute phonorecords (that is, sound recordings)
of a copyrighted musical work without reaching any kind of
agreement with the copyright owner. That right does not
include authorization to make exact copies of an existing
4
sound recording and distribute it; if a musical work has been
recorded and copyrighted by another artist, a licensee “may
exercise his rights under the [§ 115] license only by
assembling his own musicians, singers, recording engineers
and equipment, etc. for the purpose of recording anew the
musical work that is the subject of the [§ 115] license.” 2
MELVILLE B. NIMMER & DAVID NIMMER, NIMMER ON
COPYRIGHT § 8.04[A], at 8-58.5 (2009). For example, a § 115
licensee could pull together a group of musicians to record
and sell a cover version of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 hit Born
to Run, but that licensee could not make copies of
Springsteen’s recording of that song and sell them.
The § 115 licensing regime operates in a fairly
straightforward manner. When a copyright owner distributes
work “to the public,” § 115’s provisions are triggered. 17
U.S.C. § 115(a)(1). Once that occurs, anyone may “obtain a
compulsory license to make and distribute phonorecords of
the work” under § 115 so long as the “primary purpose in
making [the] phonorecords is to distribute them to the public
for private use.” Id. Assuming the copyright has been
registered with the Copyright Office, the licensee owes the
copyright owner a royalty for every phonorecord “made and
distributed in accordance with the [§ 115] license.” Id. §
115(c)(2). For purposes of the Copyright Act, a phonorecord
is “distributed” – and an obligation to pay the copyright
owner a royalty created – when “the person exercising the [§
115] license has voluntarily and permanently parted with” the
phonorecord. Id. In other words, the licensee’s sale of its
recording of the copyright owner’s work triggers the royalty
payment obligation. See NIMMER § 8.04[H][1], at 8-77.
Because the § 115 license issues without any agreement
between the copyright owner and the licensee, the system
5
needs a mechanism to figure out how much the licensee owes
the copyright owner and what the terms for paying that rate
should be. Although that mechanism has changed over time,
the Copyright Royalty Board currently serves as the
rulemaking body for this system. See generally Procedural
Regulations for the Copyright Royalty Board, 70 Fed. Reg.
30,901 (May 31, 2005) (discussing the history of royalty
ratemaking). The Board is a three-person panel appointed by
the Librarian of Congress and removable only for cause by
the Librarian.1 The Board sets the terms and rates for
copyright royalties when copyright owners and licensees fail
to negotiate terms and rates themselves. See NIMMER §
7.27[C], at 7-243.
As relevant here, the Copyright Act requires the Board to
set “reasonable terms and rates” for royalty payments made
under the § 115 license when the parties to the license fail to
do so. 17 U.S.C. § 801(b)(1). When establishing terms and
rates under that license, the Copyright Act requires the Board
to balance four general and sometimes conflicting policy
objectives: (1) maximizing the availability of creative works
to the public; (2) providing copyright owners a fair return for
their creative works and copyright users a fair income; (3)
recognizing the relative roles of the copyright owners and
users; and (4) minimizing any disruptive impact on the
industries involved. Id. § 801(b)(1)(A)-(D).
1
RIAA has not raised a constitutional challenge to the method
of appointment of the members of the Copyright Royalty Board.
Cf. Intercollegiate Broad. Sys., Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Bd., 574
F.3d 748, 755-56 (D.C. Cir. 2009); SoundExchange, Inc. v.
Librarian of Congress, 571 F.3d 1220, 1226-27 (D.C. Cir. 2009)
(Kavanaugh, J., concurring).
6
At specified intervals, the Board holds ratemaking
proceedings for licenses issued under the Copyright Act.
Section 115 ratemaking proceedings can occur every five
years “or at such other times as the parties have agreed.” Id. §
804(b)(4).
B
In 1996, the parties with an interest in the § 115 license
(such as the Recording Industry Association of America, the
Songwriter’s Guild of America, and the National Music
Publishers’ Association) agreed on various terms and rates for
the compulsory license. They also agreed that the settlement
with respect to those terms and rates would expire 10 years
later. In 2006, after the parties found they could not reach a
new compromise, the Board instituted proceedings to set
certain terms and rates governing the operation of the § 115
license. The process was long and complicated, involving 28
days of live testimony, more than 140 exhibits, and more than
340 pleadings, motions, and orders. See Mechanical and
Digital Phonorecord Delivery Rate Determination Proceeding,
74 Fed. Reg. 4510, 4511 (Jan. 26, 2009).
When the Board published its final determination from
those proceedings in 2009, it announced one new § 115
licensing term and two new § 115 royalty rates. First, the
Board instituted a late payment of 1.5 percent per month for
overdue royalties, measured from the date payment is due.
Second, it established a royalty rate for cellular phone
ringtones – a sound cell phones can make when they ring that
often samples a popular song. It set the rate at 24 cents per
7
ringtone sold.2 Third, with respect to physical phonorecords
(like CDs) and permanent digital downloads (like those
purchased from iTunes), the Board set the § 115 royalty rate
at the greater of 9.1 cents per song or 1.75 cents per minute of
playing time.
The Recording Industry Association of America, known
as RIAA, is a trade association representing companies that
create, manufacture, and distribute sound recordings. It
participated as a party in the § 115 licensing proceedings.
After the Board issued its determination, RIAA filed a motion
for rehearing. The Board denied the motion.
RIAA now appeals two aspects of the Board’s ruling: (1)
the imposition of a 1.5 percent per month late fee and (2) the
imposition of a penny-rate royalty structure for ringtones at
24 cents per ringtone sold.
RIAA does not contend that the Board contravened any
specific statutory limit. In other words, this is a State Farm
case, not a Chevron case. The Board’s rulings are subject to
review in this Court under the arbitrary and capricious
standard of the Administrative Procedure Act. 17 U.S.C. §
803(d)(3); see 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). As a general matter, our
review under that standard is deferential. See FCC v. Fox
Television Stations, 129 S. Ct. 1800, 1810 (2009); Motor
Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 463
U.S. 29, 43 (1983). And we give “substantial deference” to
the ratemaking decisions of the Board because Congress
2
In 2006, the Register of Copyrights ruled that ringtones are
phonorecords that fall within the scope of the § 115 license.
Mechanical and Digital Phonorecord Delivery Rate Adjustment
Proceedings, 71 Fed. Reg. 64,303 (Nov. 1, 2006).
8
expressly tasked it with balancing the conflicting statutory
objectives enumerated in the Copyright Act. SoundExchange,
Inc. v. Librarian of Congress, 571 F.3d 1220, 1225 (D.C. Cir.
2009). “To the extent that the statutory objectives determine
a range of reasonable royalty rates that would serve all [the]
objectives adequately but to differing degrees, the [Board] is
free to choose among those rates, and courts are without
authority to set aside the particular rate chosen by the [Board]
if it lies within a zone of reasonableness.” Recording Indus.
Ass’n of America v. Copyright Royalty Tribunal, 662 F.2d 1, 9
(D.C. Cir. 1981) (internal quotation marks omitted).
II
We first consider RIAA’s challenge to the 1.5 percent
late fee.
The Copyright Act authorizes the Board to impose a late
fee for § 115 royalty payments: “A determination of the
Copyright Royalty [Board] may include terms with respect to
late payment, but in no way shall such terms prevent the
copyright holder from asserting other rights or remedies
provided under this title.” 17 U.S.C. § 803(c)(7).
The factors listed in § 801(b)(1) of the Copyright Act
govern the Board’s decision to impose a late fee, as well as its
determination of the amount of that fee. Recall that those
factors include: (1) maximizing the availability of creative
works to the public; (2) providing copyright owners a fair
return for their creative works and copyright users a fair
income; (3) recognizing the relative roles of the copyright
owners and users; and (4) minimizing any disruptive impact
on the industries involved. Applying those broad and rather
amorphous factors, the Board concluded that the 1.5 percent
9
late fee comports with the statutory objectives because it
strikes a balance “between providing an effective incentive to
the licensee to make payments timely on the one hand and not
making the fee so high that it is punitive on the other hand.”
Mechanical and Digital Phonorecord Delivery Rate
Determination Proceeding, 74 Fed. Reg. 4510, 4528 (Jan. 26,
2009) (internal quotation marks omitted).
RIAA levies several challenges to the late fee. First,
RIAA argues that the Board must set royalty terms and rates
that track those found in the marketplace and that the Board
failed to do so here. Second, RIAA asserts that the late fee is
unnecessary in the § 115 licensing context because copyright
owners possess a termination right that can be invoked when
payments are late. Third, RIAA contends that a late fee is
inappropriate because the lateness of payments results in large
part from uncertainty about the appropriate division of
royalties among joint copyright owners. RIAA suggests that
this problem is the fault of the copyright owners themselves.
Fourth, RIAA relatedly submits that the Board failed to
adequately address its argument about the problems presented
by co-copyright owners. We will consider each of those
objections in turn.
A
RIAA argues that the late fee must be tethered to late fees
that can be found in the existing market for voluntary
licenses. By RIAA’s account, there are no late fees in the
voluntary market for the copyrights that § 115 covers. As a
result, RIAA contends the Board should not be able to impose
a late fee in this compulsory license setting.
10
The Copyright Act provides that the Board “may
consider rates and terms under voluntary license agreements”
in addition to the mandatory “objectives set forth in section
801(b)(1)” when setting the terms of the § 115 license. 17
U.S.C. § 115(c)(3)(D). As this Court explained in Recording
Industry Association of America v. Librarian of Congress, the
Librarian has interpreted a Seventh Circuit “precedent to
mean that marketplace analogies, along with other evidence,
must be considered,” which we held to be “a reasonable
interpretation of the precedent.” 176 F.3d 528, 534 (D.C. Cir.
1999). At most, then, the Board must “consider[]” the
existing market for voluntary licenses.
The Board did so here, explaining that a late fee would
correspond with the practices in other similar markets – in
particular, the closely related webcasting and satellite digital
radio industries. 74 Fed. Reg. at 4527; see Determination of
Rates and Terms for Preexisting Subscription Services and
Satellite Digital Audio Radio Services, 73 Fed. Reg. 4080,
4099 (Jan. 24, 2008); Digital Performance Right in Sound
Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings, 72 Fed. Reg. 24,084,
24,107 (May 1, 2007). The copyright owners presented
evidence during the proceedings – considered by the Board –
that the major record labels have late fee clauses in their
royalty contracts with digital music services like iTunes. J.A.
523-24. And RIAA acknowledged that at least a handful of
royalty agreements provide copyright owners with late-fee
protection. J.A. 618-19.
The Board also considered other relevant market metrics.
Copyright owners presented evidence indicating that
payments were frequently made to copyright owners after
they were due. Some of the evidence in the record suggested
that from January 2000 to September 2007, over 41,000
11
payments totaling more than $2.1 billion arrived after their
due dates. J.A. 433. Though RIAA disputed the magnitude
of the problem, none of the parties to the proceeding claimed
the problem was non-existent. 74 Fed. Reg. at 4527 n.50.
And although the Board considers market conditions
when setting terms and rates, they are not required to choose a
late fee that exactly matches a market rate. Such a rule
would, in effect, nullify the congressional authorization for
late fees.
In short, the Board appropriately took market evidence
into account when imposing the late fee.
B
The Copyright Act authorizes copyright owners to
terminate § 115 licenses for nonpayment. 17 U.S.C. §
115(c)(6). RIAA argues that the presence of that provision
renders a late fee unnecessary.
But the Copyright Act itself refutes this either-or
argument. The statute both grants the copyright owners a
termination right and authorizes the Board to impose a late
fee. Moreover, by the terms of the statute, that late fee “in no
way shall . . . prevent the copyright holder from asserting
other rights or remedies provided” by the Copyright Act. Id.
§ 803(c)(7). The congressional scheme clearly contemplates
both a termination right and a late fee.
The congressional framework makes good sense because
the incentive to make timely payments in order to avoid § 115
license termination is rather weak, if any such incentive exists
at all. Under the terms of the statute, a copyright owner must
12
give a licensee 30 days to cure any nonpayment before
terminating the license. Id. § 115(c)(6). As the Government
persuasively points out, the termination provision “cannot
possibly serve as an incentive to make timely royalty
payments, because the licensee can avoid any consequences
of withholding payment by simply waiting until the copyright
owner initiates termination and then making the payment
before the 30-day notice period has expired.” Government’s
Br. at 40.
In short, a copyright owner’s ability to terminate a § 115
license in no ways bars the imposition of a late fee.
C
RIAA also asserts that it was unreasonable for the Board
to impose a late fee benefiting copyright owners because, it
says, copyright owners are often the source of the problems
that cause late payment. By RIAA’s account, when more than
one party owns a copyright in a work, those joint copyright
owners often fail to decide who is entitled to what share of the
royalties. RIAA contends that uncertainty about what amount
is owed to individual copyright owners when a copyright is
jointly held is often the underlying reason that payments are
late.
That argument is unpersuasive. Even if it were true that
divided interests in a copyright made it difficult to make
timely payments to each copyright owner, that fact would in
no way counsel against the imposition of a late fee. The
regulations governing the operation of the § 115 license
contemplate that scenario and set forth a solution. A licensee
can satisfy its obligation to pay a royalty by paying any one
copyright owner – even when many individuals have a stake
13
in a copyright. See 37 C.F.R. § 201.18(a)(5) (“For the
purposes of this section, the term copyright owner, in the case
of any work having more than one copyright owner, means
any one of the co-owners.”) (emphasis omitted); id. §
201.18(a)(6) (“In the case where the work has more than one
copyright owner, the service of the Notice on any one of the
co-owners . . . shall be sufficient with respect to all co-
owners.”); id. § 201.19(a)(5) (“In the case where the work has
more than one copyright owner, the service of the Statement
of Account on one co-owner . . . shall be sufficient with
respect to all co-owners.”).
We therefore reject this argument as a basis for upsetting
the Board’s imposition of a late fee.
D
RIAA relatedly argues that the Board failed to adequately
consider RIAA’s assertion that a late fee was unreasonable
because of the uncertainties caused by split payments. But
both the Board’s final determination and the order denying
RIAA’s motion for a rehearing specifically addressed that
argument. And as we have already discussed, the problem
presented by jointly held copyrights is really no problem at
all; a licensee can meet its § 115 licensing obligation by
paying any one owner of a jointly owned copyright.
In sum, RIAA has failed to raise any argument that would
justify our overturning the Board’s 1.5 percent per month late
fee.
14
III
We next consider RIAA’s challenge to the royalty rates
for cell phone ringtones.3
As part of the § 115 licensing proceedings, the Board
established what is known as a penny-rate royalty structure
for ringtones. Under that rate, copyright owners receive 24
cents for every ringtone sold using their copyrighted work.
In the proceeding before the Board, RIAA argued for a
percentage-of-revenue royalty structure under which
copyright owners would receive 15 percent of the wholesale
revenue derived from the sale of a ringtone. As a less
preferred alternative, RIAA sought a penny-rate royalty
structure in which copyright owners would receive 18 cents
per ringtone sold.4
3
The Government and intervenors argue that waiver, estoppel,
or a lack of standing bars RIAA from challenging the Board’s
imposition of a penny-rate royalty structure for ringtones. Though
varying in flavor, these arguments all follow the same essential
form: Because RIAA endorsed a penny-rate structure as a less
preferred alternative to a percentage-of-revenue structure before the
Board, it waived its right to challenge (or is estopped from
challenging, or lacks standing to challenge) the imposition of the
penny-rate royalty in this Court. Not so. This Court’s case law
indicates that a party can appeal an agency’s adoption of a rate
proposed by that party when it was proffered as a second-best
option. Cf. Southern Natural Gas Co. v. FERC, 877 F.2d 1066,
1070-71 (D.C. Cir. 1989).
4
Other parties to the proceeding offered competing rates. For
example, the copyright owners endorsed a rate structure in which
they would receive the greater of (1) 15 percent of all revenue
associated with the ringtone, (2) 33.3 percent of the cost that would
have been paid for the mechanical rights to the equivalent musical
15
Applying the § 801(b)(1) criteria, the Board settled on a
penny-rate royalty structure of 24 cents per ringtone sold.
With respect to the first statutory criterion it had to consider –
maximizing the availability of creative work – the Board
concluded that a “nominal rate[] for ringtones” supports that
objective. Mechanical and Digital Phonorecord Delivery Rate
Determination Proceeding, 74 Fed. Reg. 4510, 4524 (Jan. 26,
2009). As to the second criterion – affording the copyright
owner a fair return – the Board found that the new rates did
not deprive copyright owners of a fair return on their creative
works. Id. The Board also found that the penny rate met the
third statutory criterion – respecting the relative roles of the
copyright owner and user. Id. at 4525. And under the fourth
criterion – minimizing disruptive impact on the industry – the
Board found that the rate structure it chose was reasonable
and already in place in many parts of the market, minimizing
any disruptive impact. Id.
On two separate grounds, RIAA now challenges the
structure of the ringtone royalty rate imposed by the Board –
specifically, the fact that it is a penny rate rather than a
percentage-of-revenue rate. First, using an argument similar
to the one it lodged against the 1.5 percent late fee, RIAA
alleges that the penny-rate royalty structure inappropriately
departs from market analogies for voluntary licenses. Second,
RIAA contends that a penny rate is unreasonable in light of
falling ringtone prices.
composition and sound recordings, and (3) 15 cents per ringtone,
subject to periodic inflation adjustments. Mechanical and Digital
Phonorecord Delivery Rate Determination Proceeding, 74 Fed.
Reg. 4510, 4515 (Jan. 26, 2009).
16
A
As previously discussed, although existing market rates
for voluntary licenses do not bind the Board when making its
determinations, the Board considered those rates when
selecting the penny-rate royalty structure.
The Board expressly recognized that marketplace
ringtone contracts typically provide for royalty payments at
the greater of (1) a penny rate ranging from 10 to 25 cents; (2)
a percentage of retail revenue ranging from 10 to 15 percent;
and (3) a percentage of gross revenue ranging from 9 to 20
percent. 74 Fed. Reg. at 4518.
After weighing the costs and benefits of the parties’
proposals and taking into account relevant market practices,
the Board concluded that a penny rate was superior to a
percentage-of-revenue rate for several reasons.
First, the Board determined that a penny rate was more in
line with reimbursing copyright owners for the use of their
works. Under the Board’s determination, every copyright
owner will receive 24 cents every time a ringtone using their
work is sold. By contrast, under a percentage-of-revenue
system, the royalty paid to copyright owners would vary
based on factors in addition to the number of ringtones sold,
such as the price charged to the end consumer. This Court
has validated the Board’s preference for a royalty system
based on the number of copyrighted works sold – like the
penny rate – as being more directly tied to the nature of the
right being licensed than a percentage-of-revenue rate. See
Intercollegiate Broad. Sys., Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Bd., 574
F.3d 748, 760-61 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
17
Second, when looking to market analogies, the Board
determined that many of the concerns driving the adoption of
a percentage-of-revenue royalty structure in other instances
were absent here. For example, the Board had previously
concluded that a percentage-of-revenue royalty structure
made sense in the satellite digital radio context because it
would be difficult to measure how much a given work was
actually used. See Determination of Rates and Terms for
Preexisting Subscription Services and Satellite Digital Audio
Radio Services, 73 Fed. Reg. 4080, 4086 (Jan. 24, 2008). In
the case of ringtones, “measuring the quantity of
reproductions presents no such problems.” 74 Fed. Reg. at
4516. In a market based on the sale of individual copyrighted
works (like the ringtone market) as opposed to a market
where copyrighted works are bundled and sold as a service to
consumers (like satellite radio) figuring out how many times a
copyrighted work is used (i.e., sold) is much easier.
Third, the Board found that the simplicity of using a
penny-rate royalty structure supported its adoption: “No
proxies need be formulated to establish the number of such
reproductions,” which are “readily calculable as the number
of units in transactions between the parties.” 74 Fed. Reg. at
4516. That simplicity contrasts sharply with the “salient
difficulties” presented by RIAA’s proposed percentage-of-
revenue royalty structure. Id. As the Board recognized, not
least among these difficulties were definitional problems such
as disagreements about what constituted “revenues.” Id.
Tying all of those strands together, the Board ultimately
concluded “that a single penny-rate structure is best applied to
ringtones as well as physical phonorecords and digital
permanent downloads” because of “the efficiency of
administration gained from a single structure when spread
18
over the much larger number of musical works reproduced”
under the § 115 licensing regime. 74 Fed. Reg. at 4517 n.21.
In the Board’s view, the penny rate provided “the most
efficient mechanism for capturing the value of the
reproduction and distribution rights at issue.” 74 Fed. Reg. at
4515.
We find nothing unreasonable about the Board’s
preference for a penny-rate royalty structure.
B
RIAA also argues that plummeting ringtone prices render
the penny rate inherently unreasonable. The Board
considered and rejected this argument, stating: “RIAA’s shrill
contention that a penny-rate structure ‘would be disruptive as
consumer prices continue to decline’ and should, therefore, be
replaced by a percentage rate system in order to satisfy 801(b)
policy considerations . . . is not supported by the record of
evidence in this proceeding. . . . RIAA [does not] offer any
persuasive evidence that would in any way quantify any
claimed adverse impact on projected future revenues
stemming from the continued application of a penny-rate
structure . . . .” 74 Fed. Reg. at 4516.
Although the Board concluded that falling ringtone prices
were not relevant to the choice of a penny-rate royalty as
opposed to a percentage-of-revenue royalty, it did find
information about declining prices useful in structuring the
terms of the penny rate it chose. See 74 Fed. Reg. at 4523.
For example, the Board referenced concerns about reduced
revenues when rejecting the copyright owners’ request that
selected rates be adjusted annually for inflation. Id.
19
The Board examined the relevant data and determined
that there was no meaningful link between the selection of a
penny-rate royalty structure for ringtones and future ringtone
revenues. RIAA has failed to present any basis for us to
overturn that conclusion.
***
We affirm the Copyright Royalty Board’s determination.
So ordered.