CFR

261.7—Verification of royalty payments.

(a) General. This section prescribes general rules pertaining to the verification by any Copyright Owner or Performer of royalty payments made by a Designated Agent; Provided, however, that nothing contained in this section shall apply to situations where a Copyright Owner or a Performer and a Designated Agent have agreed as to proper verification methods.

(b) Frequency of verification. A Copyright Owner or a Performer may conduct a single audit of a Designated Agent upon reasonable notice and during reasonable business hours, during any given calendar year, for any or all of the prior three (3) calendar years, and no calendar year shall be subject to audit more than once.

(c) Notice of intent to audit. A Copyright Owner or Performer must submit a notice of intent to audit a particular Designated Agent with the Copyright Office, which shall publish in the Federal Register a notice announcing the receipt of the notice of intent to audit within thirty (30) days of the filing of the notice. The notification of intent to audit shall be served at the same time on the Designated Agent to be audited. Any such audit shall be conducted by an independent and qualified auditor identified in the notice, and shall be binding on all Copyright Owners and Performers.

(d) Acquisition and retention of records. The Designated Agent making the royalty payment shall use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain or to provide access to any relevant books and records maintained by third parties for the purpose of the audit and retain such records for a period of not less than three (3) years. The Copyright Owner or Performer requesting the verification procedure shall retain the report of the verification for a period of not less than three (3) years.

(e) Acceptable verification procedure. An audit, including underlying paperwork, which was performed in the ordinary course of business according to generally accepted auditing standards by an independent and qualified auditor, shall serve as an acceptable verification procedure for all parties with respect to the information that is within the scope of the audit.

(f) Consultation. Before rendering a written report to a Copyright Owner or Performer, except where the auditor has a reasonable basis to suspect fraud and disclosure would, in the reasonable opinion of the auditor, prejudice the investigation of such suspected fraud, the auditor shall review the tentative written findings of the audit with the appropriate agent or employee of the Designated Agent being audited in order to remedy any factual errors and clarify any issues relating to the audit; Provided that the appropriate agent or employee of the Designated Agent reasonably cooperates with the auditor to remedy promptly any factual errors or clarify any issues raised by the audit.

(g) Costs of the verification procedure. The Copyright Owner or Performer requesting the verification procedure shall pay the cost of the procedure, unless it is finally determined that there was an underpayment of ten percent (10%) or more, in which case the Designated Agent shall, in addition to paying the amount of any underpayment, bear the reasonable costs of the verification procedure; Provided, however, that a Designated Agent shall not have to pay any costs of the verification procedure in excess of the amount of any underpayment unless the underpayment was more than twenty percent (20%) of the amount finally determined to be due from the Designated Agent and more than $5,000.00.

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