17 U.S.C. § 1007 — Procedures for distributing royalty payments

(a) Filing of claims and negotiations. (1) During the first two months of each calendar year, every interested copyright party seeking royalty payments owed under section 1006 must file with the Copyright Royalty Judges a claim for payments collected during the previous year, in the form and manner set by regulation. (2) Despite the antitrust laws, interested copyright parties within each group listed in section 1006(b) may agree on how to divide royalty payments among themselves, combine their claims and file them together or as one claim, or appoint a common agent, including an organization described in section 1001(7)(D), to negotiate or receive payment for them. An agreement under this subsection may not change the royalty allocation specified in section 1006(b).

(b) Distribution when there is no dispute. After the claim-filing period, the Copyright Royalty Judges must determine each year whether a dispute exists about distributing payments under section 1006(c). If they decide there is no dispute, they must, within 30 days after that decision, authorize distribution according to the parties’ payment-distribution agreements made under subsection (a). Before payment, the Librarian of Congress must deduct the reasonable administrative costs incurred under this section.

(c) Resolving disputes. If the Judges find a dispute, they must hold a proceeding under chapter 8 of this title to decide how to distribute the payments. While the proceeding is pending, they must withhold enough money to satisfy every claim involved in the dispute, but, when feasible, authorize payment of amounts not in dispute. Before payment, the Librarian of Congress must deduct the reasonable administrative costs incurred under this section.