Internet Radio Picks Up Congressional Support

We have another post by Broadclip's General Counsel, Matthew Drake. Thanks Matt!

The Internet Radio Equality Act (H.R. 2060) is attracting strong bipartisan support. Originally sponsored by Rep. Jay Inslee (D. Wash.), the bill now has Donald Manzullo (R. Ill) as an additional sponsor, and dozens of co-sponsors ranging across the ideological spectrum. Whatever else they may disagree on, they can agree that Internet radio is good and should not be squashed by jacking up the royalty rates. The following members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors:

Michael Arcuri (D. N.Y.)
Tammy Baldwin (D. Wis.)
Roscoe Bartlett (R. Md.)
Earl Blumenauer (D. Or.)
Rick Boucher (D. Va.)
Corrine Brown (D. Fla.)
Vern Buchanan (R. Fla.)
Michael Capuano (D. Mass.)
Stephen I. Cohen (D. Tenn.)
Joseph Courtney (D. Conn.)
Barbara Cubin (R. Wyo.)
Susan A. Davis (D. Cal.)
Peter A. DeFazio (D. Or.)
Keith M. Ellison (D. Minn.)
Brad Ellsworth (D. Ind.)
Sam Farr (D. Cal.)
Bob Filner (D. Cal.)
Luis Fortuno (R. P.R.)
Virginia Foxx (R. N.C.)
Raul M. Grijalva (D. Az.)
Luis V. Gutierrez (D. Ill.)
Brian M. Higgins (D. N.Y.)
Baron Hill (D. Ind.)
Maurice Hinchey (D. N.Y.)
Michael M. Honda (D. Cal.)
Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D. Ill.)
Dale E. Kildee (D. Mich.)
Mark S. Kirk (R. Ill.)
John Lewis (D. Ga.)
Jim McDermott (D. Wash.)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R. Wash.)
Michael H. Michaud (D. Maine)
James P. Moran (D. Va.)
Ron Paul (R. Tex.)
David E. Price (D. N.C.)
Dave Reichert (R. Wash.)
Tim Ryan (D. Ohio)
Carol Shea-Porter (D. N.H.)
John M. Spratt, Jr. (D. S.C.)
Lee Terry (R. Neb.)
Lynn Woolsey (D. Cal.)

If your Representative is not on this list, contact him or her about just how important this legislation is.

Time is important. The final decision of the Copyright Royalty Board was published in the Federal Register on May 2. According to the final decision, initial payments, retroactive to January 1, 2006, will be due July 15.

In the meantime, the deadline for appealing the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is 30 days after it was published, i.e. June 1. The first appeal has already been filed by the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System. It will not be the last.