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By Paul Maloney

The law firm of Shaw Pittman LLP, on behalf of a group of webcasters led by ioMediaPartners (which owns and operates RadioIO.com) has filed a Notice of Appeal of the Copyright Office's final order setting rates for webcasting in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The deadline for parties affected by the ruling to appeal is today.

A total of 19 small commercial webcasters, including Live365.com and Radio Free Virgin, are participating in the appeal.

Yesterday RAIN reported that the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Association (IBS), on behalf of its 700+ noncommercial education member stations, had filed its appeal the very day the Librarian's ruling was published in the Federal Register.

Additionally, RAIN received word this morning from a spokeman from the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) that that organization would not be filing an appeal. The NAB sticks by its contention that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) does not make broadcasters that simulcast their over-the-air signals on the Internet liable for sound recording performance royalties -- and its assumed the organization will focus its efforts on this front.

The other webcasters party to the appeal are: Radioparadise, 3WK LLC (3WK Underground Radio), WolfFM, Discombobulated LLC (Ultimate80s), WebMedia Consulting Inc. (DigitallyImported), Chatmasters Streaming Network, Internet Radio Inc. (ChoiceRadio), INETprogramming Inc., SomaFM, Wherever Radio, All Bass Radio, Internet Radio Hawaii, Classical Detroit, flareSOUND, TheRockFM.com, and Pacific Internet Broadcast Services (HawaiianHits.com).

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