Opinion ID: 4549821
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Distribution methodologies hearings

Text: From April 13 to 17, 2015, the Judges held another hearing in which they received evidence and expert testimony regarding appropriate distribution methodologies for the royalties in the program suppliers and devotional programming categories. MPA offered a methodology for computing relative royalty shares in the program suppliers category, the SDC offered one for the devotional programming category, and IPG submitted a methodology that it contended should be used for both categories. The Judges faulted MPA and the SDC’s methodologies as supported by insufficient data, and faulted IPG’s methodology for “its reliance on volume, time of day, fees paid and number of subscribers as measurements of value” U.S. Copyright Royalty Judges, In re Distribution of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, & 2009 Cable Royalty Funds, In re Distribution of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, & 2009 Satellite Royalty Funds, Nos. 2012- 6 CRB CD 2004-09 (Phase II); 2012-7 CRB SD 1999-2009 (Phase II), Order Reopening Record and Scheduling Further Proceedings 6 (May 4, 2016) (Order Reopening Record). The Judges declined to adopt any of the offered methodologies and directed that the record be reopened. Id. at 8. The Judges “set aside” all submissions, evidence, and testimony from the April 12 2015 hearing and ordered the parties to submit new evidence for a new hearing. Id. On motion from MPA and the SDC, the Judges excluded all of IPG’s evidence from the new hearing for two reasons: First, IPG asserted without explanation that its sole witness, economic expert Dr. Cowan, could not appear at the hearing and so would not be subject to cross-examination. Second, the Judges’ rules require that a party wishing to rely on the testimony of a witness from a prior proceeding must designate the complete testimony of that witness and include a copy of it, 37 C.F.R. § 351.4(b)(2), but IPG failed to do so. IPG’s only evidence aside from Dr. Cowan’s written testimony consisted of citations to testimony from witnesses in past distribution proceedings. IPG failed to include transcripts of the designated testimony, in violation of the Judges’ rules. See Final Distribution Determination: Distribution of 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Cable Royalty Funds; Distribution of 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Satellite Royalty Funds, 84 Fed. Reg. 16,038, 16,040 (Apr. 17, 2019) (Final Distribution Determination). The Judges nevertheless allowed IPG to use Dr. Cowan’s written testimony and IPG’s other exhibits in cross-examining MPA and the SDC’s witnesses. Id. The Judges denied MPA and the SDC’s motion for summary disposition, instead conducting a hearing with live testimony to afford IPG the opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses. Id. Following the new hearing in the reopened proceeding, the Judges concluded that MPA and the SDC had fixed the paucity of data identified in the earlier hearing. Id. at 16,043, 16,046. The Judges adopted MPA’s methodology and proposed percentages for the program suppliers category, id. at 16,045, and adopted the SDC’s for the devotional category, id. at 16,048. 13