37 CFR 355.5 – Hearing procedures
(a) En banc panel. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall preside en banc over any hearing to determine the reasonableness of and the allocation of responsibility to contribute to the Administrative Assessment.
Terms Used In 37 CFR 355.5
- Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
- Court reporter: A person who makes a word-for-word record of what is said in court and produces a transcript of the proceedings upon request.
- Deposition: An oral statement made before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths. Such statements are often taken to examine potential witnesses, to obtain discovery, or to be used later in trial.
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
- Reporter: Makes a record of court proceedings and prepares a transcript, and also publishes the court's opinions or decisions (in the courts of appeals).
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
- Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.
- Transcript: A written, word-for-word record of what was said, either in a proceeding such as a trial or during some other conversation, as in a transcript of a hearing or oral deposition.
(b) Attendance and participation. The Mechanical Licensing Collective, through an authorized officer or other managing agent, and the Digital Licensee Coordinator, if any, through an authorized officer or other managing agent, shall attend and participate in the hearing. Any other entity that has filed a valid Petition to Participate and that the Copyright Royalty Judges have not found to be disqualified shall participate in an Administrative Assessment proceeding hearing. If the Copyright Royalty Judges find, sua sponte or upon motion of a participant, that a participant has failed substantially to comply with any of the requirements of this part, the Copyright Royalty Judges may exclude that participant from participating in the hearing; provided, however, that the Mechanical Licensing Collective and the Digital Licensee Coordinator shall not be subject to exclusion.
(c) Admission of written submissions, deposition transcripts, and other documents. Subject to any valid objections of a participant, the Copyright Royalty Judges shall admit into evidence at an Administrative Assessment hearing the complete initial, responsive, and reply submissions that the participants have filed. Participants shall not file deposition transcripts, but may utilize deposition transcripts for the purposes and under the conditions described in Fed. R. Civ. P. 32 and interpreting case law. Any participant may expand upon excerpts at the hearing or counter-designate excerpts in the written record to the extent necessary to provide appropriate context for the record. During the hearing, upon the oral request of any participant, any document proposed as an exhibit by any participant shall be admitted into evidence so long as that document was produced previously by any participant, subject only to a valid evidentiary objection.
(d) Argument and examination of witnesses. An Administrative Assessment hearing shall consist of the oral testimony of witnesses at the hearing and arguments addressed to the written submissions and oral testimony proffered by the participants, except that the Copyright Royalty Judges may, sua sponte or upon written or oral request of a participant, find good cause to dispense with the oral direct, cross, or redirect examination of a witness, and rely, in whole or in part, on that witness’s written testimony. The Copyright Royalty Judges may, at their discretion, and in a procedure the Judges describe in a prehearing Scheduling Order, and after consideration of the positions of counsel for the participants, require expert witnesses to be examined concurrently by the Judges and/or the attorneys. If the Judges so order, the expert witnesses may then testify through a colloquy among themselves, including questions addressed to each other, as limited and directed by the Judges and subject to valid objections by counsel and ruled upon by the Judges. The concurrent examination procedure may be utilized in conjunction with, or in lieu of, traditional direct, cross, redirect and (with leave of the Judges) further direct or cross examination. In the absence of any order directing the use of concurrent examination, only the traditional form of examination described above shall be utilized. Only witnesses who have submitted written testimony or who were deposed in the proceeding may be examined at the hearing. A witness’s oral testimony shall not exceed the subject matter of his or her written or deposition testimony. Unless the Copyright Royalty Judges, on motion of a participant, order otherwise, no witness, other than an expert witness or a person designated as a party representative for the proceeding, may listen to, or review a transcript of, testimony of another witness or witnesses prior to testifying.
(e) Objections. Participants may object to evidence on any proper ground, by written or oral objection, including on the ground that a participant seeking to offer evidence for admission has failed without good cause to produce the evidence during the discovery process. The Copyright Royalty Judges may, but are not required to, admit hearsay evidence to the extent they deem it appropriate.
(f) Transcript and record. The Copyright Royalty Judges shall designate an official reporter for the recording and transcribing of hearings. Anyone wishing to inspect the transcript of a hearing, to the extent the transcript is not restricted under a protective order, may do so when the hearing transcript is filed in the Copyright Royalty Judges’ electronic filing and case management system, eCRB, at https://app.crb.gov after the hearing concludes. The availability of restricted portions of any transcript shall be described in the protective order. Any participant desiring daily or expedited transcripts shall make separate arrangements with the designated court reporter.