Title: ACCESS to Recordings Act
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
Accessibility for Curators, Creators, Educators, Scholars, and Society to Recordings Act or ACCESS to Recordings Act
This bill provides for federal copyright protection to sound recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, which are currently only covered by state law.
The bill also establishes the length of the protection term for various categories of pre-1972 recordings.
To be eligible for statutory damages or attorneys' fees for infringement of a pre-1972 recording, the work must be registered no later than one year after this bill's effective date.
For the first three years after the bill's effective date, the copyright owner of pre-1972 recordings is eligible for statutory damages or attorneys' fees only if it notifies the alleged infringer of the recording's copyright registration and the allegedly infringing acts. The copyright owner may file its lawsuit after 180 days, if the alleged infringement has not ceased.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2933 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2933

   To amend title 17, United States Code, to clarify ownership with 
         respect to certain copyrights, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 23, 2018

   Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend title 17, United States Code, to clarify ownership with 
         respect to certain copyrights, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accessibility for Curators, 
Creators, Educators, Scholars, and Society to Recordings Act'' or the 
``ACCESS to Recordings Act''.

SEC. 2. COPYRIGHT PROVISIONS.

    Title 17, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in section 201, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(f) Sound Recording Fixed Before February 15, 1972.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, with respect to a 
sound recording fixed before February 15, 1972, the initial owner of 
the copyright with respect to the work for the purposes of this title 
shall be the person that owned the copyright, or equivalent right under 
State law, under State law on the effective date of the ACCESS to 
Recordings Act.'';
            (2) in section 301--
                    (A) by striking subsection (c); and
                    (B) by redesignating subsections (d), (e), and (f) 
                as subsections (c), (d), and (e), respectively;
            (3) in section 303, by adding at the end the following:
    ``(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) and section 304, the copyright 
in a sound recording--
            ``(1) fixed before February 15, 1972, subject to paragraph 
        (2), subsists from the effective date of the ACCESS to 
        Recordings Act and endures for a term of 95 years from its 
        first publication, or a term of 120 years from the year of its 
        creation, whichever expires first; and
            ``(2) published during the period beginning on January 1, 
        1923, and ending on December 31, 1930, endures until December 
        31, 2025, if--
                    ``(A) the copyright owner engages in normal 
                commercial exploitation of the work through December 
                31, 2025; and
                    ``(B) before the date on which protection with 
                respect to the work expires under paragraph (1), the 
                owner of the copyright submits to the Register of 
                Copyrights a notice that--
                            ``(i) complies with such regulations as the 
                        Register of Copyrights may issue; and
                            ``(ii) states that the work is subject to 
                        the normal commercial exploitation described in 
                        subparagraph (A).''; and
            (4) in section 412--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``or'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) notwithstanding any other provision of this section, 
        any infringement of copyright in a sound recording fixed before 
        February 15, 1972, unless the sound recording has an effective 
        date of registration that is not later than 1 year after the 
        effective date of the ACCESS to Recordings Act.''.

SEC. 3. TEMPORARY LIMITATION ON INFRINGEMENT ACTIONS.

    During the 3-year period beginning on the effective date of this 
Act, an award of statutory damages or of attorney's fees may be made 
with respect to an infringement of copyright in a sound recording fixed 
before February 15, 1972, only if--
            (1) not later than 180 days before the date on which the 
        copyright owner brings the action, the copyright owner provides 
        notice to the alleged infringer regarding--
                    (A) the registration of the work under title 17, 
                United States Code; and
                    (B) the alleged infringement of copyright; and
            (2) as of the date on which the copyright owner brings the 
        action, the alleged infringement has not ceased.

SEC. 4. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Register of Copyrights may promulgate regulations to modify the notice, 
deposit, and registration requirements under sections 401 through 410 
of title 17, United States Code, with respect to a sound recording 
fixed before February 15, 1972.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except with respect to any regulations that the Register of 
Copyrights promulgates under section 4, this Act, and the amendments 
made by this Act, shall take effect on the date that is 1 year after 
the date of enactment of this Act.
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