LEGAL EXPERT THINKS ROYALTY LOGIC MOTION AGAINST CRB “NOT FAR-FETCHED”: As reported in RAIN (here), music royalty admin company Royalty Logic recently filed a court motion challenging the constitutionality of the appointment of the three Copyright Royalty Judges to the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (Apparently, the Constitution allows only the president or the head of an executive agency to appoint judges. The Librarian of Congress, who appointed the CRB judges, doesn’t have this power, the argument goes.). In a new article, Billboard senior correspondent for legal and publishing issues Susan Butler writes that Royalty Logic’s motion isn’t nearly as far-fetched as it might sound. The reason this is important to webcasters: “If appointment of the judges were found to be unconstitutional,” Butler writes, “it could wipe out all CRB decisions“ — like the 2005 webcast royalty determination. The law giving the CRB judges the power to set rates would remain intact, but all of their decisions would be void. Such an outcome could be disastrous for both copyright owners and those looking to license (webcasters and broadcasters), says Butler, because “to correct any error by legislation will take time, perhaps months or years. Then to reset rates through additional two-year proceedings will also take years and many more millions of dollars.” Then, copyright owners and webcasters would be forced to negotiate an agreement. Billboard.biz subscribers can read the new article here, and Butler’s earlier piece (available for free) here.

HANSON TO KEYNOTE NON-COMM GATHERING IN PHILLY: RAIN publisher and AccuRadio founder Kurt Hanson will deliver his “Future of Radio” keynote address tomorrow at the eighth annual NON-COMMvention in Philadelphia. He’ll discuss the impact of new technologies and media platforms, and how broadcasters can profit from the changes. Following the speech, Kurt will moderate a panel with Wharton School marketing professor Peter Fader, who heads the school’s Interactive Media Initiative. NON-COMM is an annual convention for non-commercial broadcasters in the Adult Alternative music format. The event runs today through Saturday at the Hilton Inn at Penn.

WEBCASTER TECH ALLOWS ADVERTISERS TO MONITOR AD IMPRESSIONS ON-THE-FLY: Fork Radio’s adPanel technology was designed to provide an accurate, up-to-the-minute count of how many users are listening to an Internet radio station, not simply how many hits a station’s website receives. More than this, adPanel tallies and displays a running total of how many times an audio ad is played, plus other info, which the company says gives far more accountability to advertisers than “samples” of past listening. Fork Radio developed the technology for its own Internet radio station, PunkRadioCast, but plans to open adPanel to other webcasters. Eliot Van Buskirk at the Wired Blog Network sees one other use for adPanel: “counting up how many listeners heard each song in order to pay the per-listener royalty rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board.” Read the Wired piece and see a nice screenshot of the adPanel console here.

FCC TO BIDDERS: WANT THE SPECTRUM? OFFER FREE WI-FI: The Wall Street Journal reports that the FCC is considering requiring the winner of a planned airwaves auction to offer free Wi-Fi Internet access to “most Americans.” The winner of an auction for a band of radio frequencies would be required to extend its wireless network to 50% of the population within four years and 95% within 10 years. FCC spokesman Rob Kenny said, “We believe this is a good idea and demonstrates the [FCC’s] commitment to supporting initiatives that have a positive impact on the next phase of broadband innovation.” In percentage of households with hi-speed Internet, the United States is 15th of 30 developed countries. Read the full Wall Street Journal article here.

VIRGIN RADIO MAY BE RELAUNCHED AFTER SALE: Virgin Radio, known as a top-webcaster and Internet innovator, will likely see its brand name return to Richard Branson, should a reportedly-imminent sale of the station go through. Virgin Radio owner SMG is in talks to sell the station (which owns a London FM license and a national AM license) to Absolute Radio. Branson’s company, Virgin Group, owns the Virgin Radio brand in countries throughout Europe and Asia, and reportedly wants to “reclaim the Virgin Radio brand and launch a British station, possibly on DAB,” reports the Times of London. Branson founded Virgin Radio and has the right not to allow transfer of the brand to any concern that competes with Virgin businesses anywhere in the world (both Virgin Group and Absolute have ties to Indian newspapers). Read more from the Times Online here.

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