Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act

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Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act
Great Seal of the United States.
Effective Feb 1, 1996
Citations
Public Law Pub. L. No. 104-39, 109 Stat. 336
Stat. 109 Stat. 336
Copyright Act of 1976
Title(s) amended 17 (Copyright)
U.S.C. section(s) amended 17 U.S.C. §§ 106, 114-115
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the United States Senate as S.227 by Orrin Hatch on January 13, 1995
  • Committee consideration by: Senate Judiciary Committee; House Judiciary Committee (Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property)
  • Passed the United States Senate on November 1, 1995 ()
  • Passed the United States House of Representatives on October 17, 1995 ()
  • Signed into law by President Clinton on November 1, 1995
Major amendments
Codification
Wikisource has original text related to this article:

The Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995 (DPRA) is a United States Copyright law that grants owners of a copyright in sound recordings an exclusive right “to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.”[1] The DPRA was enacted in response to the absence of a performance right for sound recordings in the Copyright Act of 1976 and a fear that digital technology would stand in for sales of physical records.[2] The performance right for sound recordings under the DPRA is limited to transmissions over a digital transmission, so it is not as expansive as the performance right for other types of copyrighted works.[3] The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, modified the DPRA.

Three-tier System [edit]

The DPRA categorizes services under three tiers, based on the service’s potential impact on record sales.[4] First, non-subscription broadcast transmissions exempt from requirements to pay license fees. Second, non-interactive Internet transmissions are required to pay a statutory license established by the Copyright Board. Third, Interactive Internet transmission services are required to negotiate a license agreement with the copyright holder.

The DMCA modified the requirement and framework for the statutory license.

Criticism [edit]

While the DPRA expanded the sound recording’s performance right, performers have still criticized the DPRA’s comparative inequity[5] because composers still have a much wider performance right than performers. Broadcast services have criticized the DPRA’s burden on webcasters, since the three-tiered system places a higher burden on the interactive Internet transmission services.[4] Both sides have criticized the convoluted structure of the DPRA.[6]

References [edit]

  1. ^ 17 U.S.C. § 106(6)
  2. ^ Martin, Rebecca (1996). "THE DIGITAL PERFORMANCE RIGHT IN THE SOUND RECORDINGS ACT OF 1995: CAN IT PROTECT U.S. SOUND RECORDING COPYRIGHT OWNERS IN A GLOBAL MARKET?". Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal 14: 733. 
  3. ^ Cohen, Julie; Lydia Loren, Ruth Okediji, Maureen O'Rourke (2006). Copyright in a Global Information Economy. New York, New York: Aspen. pp. 466–67. ISBN 0-7355-5612-1. 
  4. ^ a b Myers, Kellen (2008). "The RIAA, the DMCA, and the Forgotten Few Webcasters: A Call for Change in Digital Copyright Royalties". Federal Communications Law Journal 61: 439–40. 
  5. ^ Sen, Shourin (2007). "The Denial of a General Performance Right in Sound Recordings: A Policy that Facilitates Our Democratic Civil Society?". Harvard Journal of Law and Technology 21 (1): 262. Retrieved 2010-03-10. 
  6. ^ Jackson, Matt (2003). "From Broadcast to Webcast: Copyright Law and Streaming Media". Texas Intellectual Property Law Journal 11: 455. 
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