Japanese authors’ society JASRAC has bought some time in its dispute with the government’s Fair Trade Commission (FTC).

JASRAC (Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers) on Aug. 6 deposited 100 million yen ($1 million) with the Tokyo High Court to obtain a temporary exemption from the Feb. 27 cease-and-desist order issued by the FTC which demanded that the society end its blanket-fee system. Under that system, radio and TV stations are allowed unlimited use of JASRAC-managed music copyrights for a flat fee of 1.5% of their annual broadcasting revenue.

The society had sought suspension of the execution of the FTC order, because it “could cause irrecoverable losses to not only JASRAC but also broadcasters and rights-holders,” according to JASRAC. The court approved the request on July 9 and decided to exempt JASRAC from the FTC order if the society made the 100-million-yen deposit.

As a result, the order will be put on hold, and broadcasters can continue to use JASRAC-managed music for the time being.

The dispute arose following complaints about the blanket-fee system from Tokyo-based E-License, one of the private copyright-management agencies established after JASRAC lost its legal monopoly on music copyright-fee collection in 2001. In April 2008, FTC officials raided the society’s Tokyo headquarters on suspicion of violating Japan’s Anti-Monopoly Law. In February 2009 the FTC ruled that the system prevents other companies from entering the copyright-fee collection and management business.

The fact that major players such as Toyota, Hakuhodo (Japan’s No. 2 advertising agency) and NTT Multimedia Engineering are among E-License’s investors shows that some sections of the Japanese business community aren’t necessarily happy with JASRAC’s stranglehold on broadcast-fee collections.

For its part, JASRAC says the system is similar to those in other major markets and was developed in cooperation with broadcasters.

“The FTC order illegally interferes with private negotiations held on the basis of the free-market principle,” JASRAC said in a statement. “The royalty rate set by JASRAC is low compared with levels in other countries, and foreign rights-holders have been asking JASRAC to raise the royalty rate. This suggests that JASRAC did not unfairly pressure broadcasters to accept an excessively high royalty rate.”