The Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) system was a part of the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
involved in making decisions regarding copyright royalties.
Panel function
The system itself was created upon the suggestion of the
Register of Copyrights, and is sanctioned to appoint and organize
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
arbitration
Arbitration is a formal method of dispute resolution involving a third party neutral who makes a binding decision. The third party neutral (the 'arbitrator', 'arbiter' or 'arbitral tribunal') renders the decision in the form of an 'arbitrati ...
royalty
Royalty may refer to:
* the mystique/prestige bestowed upon monarchs
** one or more monarchs, such as kings, queens, emperors, empresses, princes, princesses, etc.
*** royal family, the immediate family of a king or queen-regnant, and sometimes h ...
panels. The primary purpose of the panel is to make decisions involving the adjustment of copyright
royalty rates as well as the
terms and
payment
A payment is the tender of something of value, such as money or its equivalent, by one party (such as a person or company) to another in exchange for goods or services provided by them, or to fulfill a legal obligation or philanthropy desir ...
s of royalties that fall under
copyright law
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...
.
When determining the reasonable royalty rates, the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel attempts to make the creative works accessible to the public, to grant the copyright holder a fair reward for the work, and to minimize any disruptive effects the industries involved or associated with the copyright holder and user. Additionally, arbitrary decisions are made concerning the adjustment of the copyright royalty rates by this group.
Distribution Reform Act of 2004
The CARP was phased out by the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004, which amended chapter 8 of the U.S. Copyright Act in its entirety. Pub. L. No. 108-419, 118 Stat. 2341. Under the new system, three
Copyright Royalty Judges, also known as CRJs, establish the conditions and rates for (compulsory) copyright statutory licenses, and govern the distribution system of royalties collected by the Copyright office on these statutory licenses. 17 U.S.C. Section 801.
The CRJ appointees will serve for a full-time six-year
term with the possibility for reappointment. In order to avoid replacing all three judges at the same time, the first three judges appointed will serve staggered terms of two, four, and six years. 17 U.S.C. Section 802.
See also
*
Copyright Royalty Board
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is a U.S. system of three copyright royalty judges who determine rates and terms for copyright statutory licenses and make determinations on distribution of statutory license royalties collected by the U.S. Cop ...
References
{{USCopyrightActs
United States Copyright Office
Copyright agencies
Music licensing