FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1997                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


  JUSTICE DEPARTMENT ASKS COURT TO MODIFY 1950 ASCAP SETTLEMENT


       Change Allows ASCAP's Members to Collect Royalties 
        for Home Taped Music in Canada, France and Germany


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice asked the
federal district court in Manhattan today to modify a 1950
consent decree that will allow the American Society of Composers,
Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) to collect royalties for home
taping of copyrighted music in Canada, France and Germany. 
 
     ASCAP--a performing rights society that licenses and
collects fees for the use of music written or published by its
members--currently collects and distributes similar royalties for
its members each time American consumers make copies of the music
in their homes.  The royalties flow from a fund that
manufacturers of home tape recorders and blank tapes pay into,
and this cost is passed on to the consumer when they buy these
products.

     In 1950, the Department reached a settlement with ASCAP
resolving an antitrust complaint that ASCAP divided markets with
certain foreign performing rights societies and agreed not to do
business with other competitors.  Some language in the decree,
which was written long before home taping was possible,
prohibited ASCAP from collecting royalties from foreign
performing rights societies.
  
     ASCAP asked the Department to propose the modifications so
that it could distribute the royalties, which are now being
collected by foreign societies, to its members. 
     
     "At the time the settlement was entered, ASCAP participated
in a world-wide confederation of performing rights societies that
engaged in global misconduct, including boycotts and agreements
not to compete," said Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General
in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division.  "Since 1950,
this misconduct has ceased, and the earlier provisions we now
seek to modify were affecting American music rights-holders'
ability to receive royalties for the foreign use of their work." 

     The Department's decision to seek the proposed modifications
to the decree governing ASCAP's foreign activities is a result of
a comprehensive review of various consent decrees governing the
activities of ASCAP and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), another major
performing rights organization in the U.S.  The Department's
review of the consent decrees governing ASCAP's and BMI's
domestic activities is ongoing.  
         
     The Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 required manufacturers
of home taping devices and blank tapes to pay a certain amount on
each sale of their products to a fund.  ASCAP then draws
royalties from that fund for its members.  The fund assumes a
certain portion of blank tapes and recorders will be used by
consumers to reproduce copyrighted music for their personal use.

     ASCAP began collecting and distributing royalties for home
taping in this country in 1993, after the U.S. consented to and
the court approved similar modifications to a separate decree
relating to ASCAP's domestic activities. 

     Today the Department also asked the court to modify
provisions that restrict ASCAP's activities with foreign
performing rights societies, including its ability to enter into
cross-licensing arrangements with those societies.  Other
provisions in the decree, which prohibit ASCAP from interfering
with its members' right to license music directly to users
outside the U.S., remain in force and will not be affected by the
proposed modifications.

     The Department requested that the court not implement the
proposed modifications until the Department has sought comment
from interested parties.  The Department is free to revoke its
consent to the changes if comments persuade it to do so. 
 
     The proposed modifications to the consent decree will be
published in the Federal Register, together with the Department's
supporting memorandum.  Any person may submit written comments to
Mary Jean Moltenbrey, Chief, Civil Task Force, Antitrust
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 325 7th Street, NW, Room
300, Washington, D.C. 20530.
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