DC Court Denies Motion To Stay Net Radio Royalty Rates

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Court Denies "Motion To Stay"

RAIN has learned that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied webcasters' "Motion to Stay" the new webcast royalty rates, further dimming Internet radio's hopes against crushing fees going into effect Sunday, July 15th.

On May 30th, various groups representing webcasters filed an appeal of the Copyright Royalty Board's March 2nd determination on the rates webcasters pay to play copyright music on the Internet.

At that time, DiMA (the Digital Media Association, representing large webcasters), small webcasters, and NPR (National Public Radio) also filed "Motions for Stay," requesting the Court place a hold on the CRB's decision while the appeal progresses (reported in RAIN here).

The Department of Justice (which represents the CRB in defending their decision) and SoundExchange each filed oppositions to the Motion for Stay. (Attorney David Oxenford has more detail on the "Motion for Stay" arguments in his Broadcast Law Blog.)

Apparently, the court's denial of the emergency stay is a very brief "form" order that just says that the parties didn't meet the high burden necessary to establish that a stay should be granted, which include a "likelihood of success on the merits." (In other words, you have to convince the court that you are going to win before you even file your brief or have an argument.)

RAIN will report further on this story later today with updates as frequently as hourly as news develops. (Feel free to use the "Refresh" or "Reload" button on your web browser to look for updates.)