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List Brokers
The activities of the list brokers include: (1) Searching
advertisements and databases for appropriate list offerings for
the mailer to rent; (2) coordinating the rental transaction on
behalf of the mailer; (3) collecting payment from the mailer to
remit to the list manager or list owner; and (4) analyzing the
results of the mailing to determine whether it was successful.
We conclude that the list brokers' activities are not royalty-
related activities. Rather, the list brokers' activities are
provided solely to the mailers and solely for the mailers'
convenience.6 Accordingly, we conclude that the list brokers'
activities are services and are not part of the royalty-related
activities. Consequently, any portion of the mailers' payments
that is to compensate the list brokers for their activities in
the mailing list transaction is not a royalty.
Our inquiry as to the list brokers' services, however, does
not end there. Because we hold that the portion of the mailers'
payments that is related to the list brokers' activities is not a
royalty, we must address respondent's other arguments that the
list brokers are petitioner's agents for carrying on a list
6 As discussed below, this factor is also important in
deciding whether the list brokers are petitioner's agents.
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