[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 37, Volume 1]
[Revised as of July 1, 2008]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 37CFR354.2]

[Page 708-709]
 
              TITLE 37--PATENTS, TRADEMARKS, AND COPYRIGHTS
 
        CHAPTER III--COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
 
PART 354_SUBMISSIONS TO THE REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS--Table of Contents
 
Sec. 354.2  Novel questions.

    (a) Mandatory referrals. If the material question of substantive law 
described in Sec. 354.1(a) is a novel question of law, referral to the 
Register of Copyrights by the Copyright Royalty Judges is mandatory. A 
``novel question of law'' is a question of law that has not been 
determined in the prior decisions, determinations, or rulings under the 
Copyright Act of the Copyright Royalty Judges, the Librarian of 
Congress, the Register of Copyrights,

[[Page 709]]

the Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels (to the extent they are 
consistent with the current decisions, determinations, or rulings of the 
Register of Copyrights or the Librarian of Congress), or the former 
Copyright Royalty Tribunal.
    (b) Procedures. The procedures set forth for the discretionary 
referral of material questions of copyright law to the Register of 
Copyrights by the Copyright Royalty Judges, set forth in Sec. 354.1, 
shall also govern the mandatory referral of novel questions, except that 
the Register of Copyrights' decision will be timely if it is delivered 
to the Copyright Royalty Judges within 30 days after the Register of 
Copyrights has received all of the briefs or comments of the 
participants. The Copyright Royalty Judges will not issue a final 
determination in a proceeding where the referral of a novel question to 
the Register of Copyrights under this part is pending, unless this 30-
day period has expired. The legal interpretation embodied in the timely 
delivered response of the Register of Copyrights in resolving material 
questions of substantive law is binding upon the Copyright Royalty 
Judges and will be applied by them in their final determination in the 
relevant proceeding.

[70 FR 30905, May 31, 2005, as amended at 71 FR 53331, Sept. 11, 2006]