The New York Court of Appeals said it will consider Flo & Eddie's lawsuit against Sirius XM on the issue of whether New York law recognizes a public performance right for pre-1972 sound recordings and the scope of the state's law. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asked the New York court in April to review the Flo & Eddie lawsuit, pausing its own review of the case because the status of pre-1972 sound recordings under New York law constitutes a “significant and unresolved issue” of state law that “is determinative” in the 2nd Circuit's eventual decision on Sirius XM's appeal of the case (see 1604130063). The New York Court of Appeals said Tuesday it will consider the state law issue “after briefing and argument,” but didn't set a schedule for considering the case in a brief memo.

The Copyright Royalty Board finalized its 2016-2020 royalty rates for noninteractive webcasters, saying in a Monday notice in the Federal Register its 2016-2020 rates would remain at 0.17 cent per performance on nonsubscription services and 0.22 cent per performance on subscription services. The CRB originally released its 2016-2020 noninteractive webcaster rates in December (see 1512170063) and released its full determination in February (see 1602120058). Publication of the noninteractive webcaster rates in the Federal Register starts the 30-day clock for parties in the proceeding to file an appeal of the CRB’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) generated more than $1 billion in royalty revenue in 2015, up slightly from the $1 billion-plus in revenue the performing rights organization generated in 2014, ASCAP said Thursday. ASCAP’s domestic royalty revenue rose to $716.8 million in 2015, up $61 million from 2014. ASCAP said its domestic royalty distribution to performing artists and other music creators rose to $573.5 million, up 6.2 percent from 2014. It said it returned almost 88 cents of every dollar in collected royalties back to music creators and kept the remaining 12.3 cents per dollar for operating expenses. “We are doing the best job possible for our songwriter and composer members even as we advocate for changes to the outdated music licensing laws that disadvantage songwriters in the today’s digital world,” said President Paul Williams in a news release. “While the music industry is in the midst of tremendous change, ASCAP has stayed ahead of the curve with a strategic focus on revenue growth, operational efficiencies, technology and service innovations demonstrating that the collective licensing model delivers the best value proposition in the performing rights world,” said ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews.

Samsung Research America of Mountain View, California, seeks registration of “Marix” as a trademark for a class of “computer software for controlling, monitoring and restricting access to televisions, desktop computers, and portable and handheld electronic devices,” said its April 19 application (serial number 87006511) at the Patent and Trademark Office. The subsidiary also wants to use the trademark for computer software to “remotely manage” those conditional-access “settings,” as well as for parental control software, the application said. Samsung representatives didn’t comment Monday.

MPEG LA updated the coverage of its DisplayPort patent pool to include the v1.4 specification approved in March, the company said in a Monday announcement. MPEG LA’s goal “is to provide worldwide access to as much DisplayPort essential intellectual property as possible for the benefit of licensees,” it said. Its pool of DisplayPort licensors includes Hitachi Maxell, Lattice Semiconductor, Philips, Rambus and Sony, it said.

Pandora passed the $2 billion mark in royalties for artists and songwriters, nine months after hitting the $1.5 billion royalties mark, the company said Monday. Some 80 million users spend an average of more than 23 hours per month streaming music on Pandora, it said. Pandora CEO Tim Westergren called the “rapid acceleration” of Internet radio royalty payments "promising news" for the industry, creating a “massive” revenue stream that previously hasn’t existed from radio.

About 250 musicians affiliated with the Recording Academy returned to Capitol Hill Thursday to lobby​ for a legislative revamp of music licensing law, the industry group said. “Regardless of changes in delivery platforms, music is a valuable commodity whose creators deserve fair compensation,” said academy Chief Industry, Government and Member Relations Officer Daryl Friedman in a blog post for The Hill. Academy members focused on seeking consideration of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act (HR-1733), but also sought support for including provisions from the Songwriter Equity Act (HR-1283) and the Allocation for Music Producers Act (HR-1457) in “any music licensing reform” legislation, Friedman said. “These bills would go far toward leveling the playing field for music creators who currently find themselves squeezed to the margins of an industry that uses their creative endeavors as the basis of their businesses while failing to justly compensate them.” HR-1733 would require most terrestrial radio stations to begin paying performance royalties and would require digital broadcasters to begin paying royalties for pre-1972 sound recordings. The bill would also require satellite broadcasters to pay royalties at market rates. The academy also made HR-1733 the focus of its lobbying last year (see 1504160050).

Patent and Trademark Office Director Michelle Lee encouraged Congress Thursday to adopt the Internet Policy Task Force's recommendations for amending U.S. copyright law on statutory damages to address issues that may result in excessive awards. The IPTF included the legislative recommendations in a white paper that also recommended nonlegislative solutions on the first-sale doctrine and the eligibility of remixes to claim fair use protections (see 1601280065). “Creators and users of copyrighted content face many challenges and opportunities online,” Lee said in an opinion piece in The Hill. “Our goal is to ensure that creativity and innovation grow -- and thrive -- today and into the future. We believe the White Paper helps point a path toward that objective.”

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused its review of Flo & Eddie's lawsuit against Sirius XM Wednesday, sending the case to the New York Court of Appeals so that court can definitively rule on whether New York law recognizes a public performance right for pre-1972 sound recordings and the scope of the state's law. The status of pre-1972 sound recordings under New York law constitutes a “significant and unresolved issue” of state law that “is determinative” in the 2nd Circuit's eventual decision on Sirius XM's appeal of the case, said Judge Guido Calabresi in the three-judge 2nd Circuit panel's ruling. Sirius XM was appealing a 2014 U.S. District Court in New York decision in favor of Flo & Eddie's lawsuit against the company. Flo & Eddie, who own the copyright to “Happy Together” and the rest of The Turtles' music library, have sought back performance royalties on The Turtles' pre-1972 recordings. NAB, Pandora and other groups supporting Sirius XM have questioned whether New York common law includes a performance right for pre-1972 recordings, something that doesn't exist in federal law (see 1508060052). New York's “interest in compensating copyright holders may perhaps outweigh the cost of making such a change,” the 2nd Circuit said. “Whatever the merits of such a determination might be as a value judgment, however, it is a value judgment, which is for New York to make.”

The Patent and Trademark Office remains “open to making whatever changes are necessary to ensure the [Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB)] trials are as effective and as fair as possible, provided those changes fall within our congressional mandate,” said PTO Director Michelle Lee during a Federal Circuit Judicial Conference event Monday. PTO issued revised PTAB rules earlier this month (see 1604010064) after voluntarily using a rulemaking process that included public comment, Lee said in prepared remarks. “The process we followed here is an excellent example of how we are never satisfied with the status quo, we are always looking for ways to improve, and we listen carefully to public input.” The revised rules allow PTAB to continue using a strict standard for re-examining most patents. Other revisions included allowing patent owners to file new evidence in opposition to a challenge and a rule requiring petitioning parties to prove they are not trying to abuse the PTAB system.