Congress Considers Law Making Low-Cost Copyright Lawsuits Easier

Porn producers frustrated by finding their videos posted online for free streaming and download at numerous points around the internet may soon have a way to recover damages for those copyright violations, if a new bill soon to be debated by the House Judiciary Committee is able to make its way through Congress and become law.   Suing for copyright violation can be an expensive and time-consuming process in which the up-front costs can far outweigh any potential damages recovered. The CASE Act—short for Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019—aims to make it easier to recover small amounts of damages without spending large sums on legal fees. The bill was introduced in the House on a bipartisan basis by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a Democrat, and Republican Doug Collins of Georgia. A Senate version of the CASE Act was also introduced last week, with sponsorship from both Democrat and Republican senators.  The bill would create a new “Copyright Claim Board” at the federal level, which would handle claims of $30,000 or less, and claimants who believe their copyrights have been violated would not require a lawyer to file a case. In fact, they would not even need to appear in person before the board. While the possible uses of the new small-claims system could be useful to adult video producers, the bill is aimed at helping independent musicians, photographers and other artists who seek licensing fees for use of their work. While the CASE Act seems to have the potential to revolutionize copyright enforcement, free expression and open internet advocates have come out against the new bill.  The digital rights group Public Knowledge has strongly opposed the bill, saying that the new system would increase the power of unaccountable corporations to police and regulate online expression. “The Act further entrenches an already-toxic culture of secrecy within major entertainment industries; undermines recent Supreme Court precedent on the importance of copyright registration; and creates a body that can grant un-appealable, enormous judgments that stretch the definitions of ‘small claims,’ while empowering the Copyright Office to further increase those judgment amounts in the future,” Public Knowledge said in a statement. As AVN.com reported, a United States Supreme Court ruling in March made suing for copyright violation more difficult—not easier, as the CASE Act proposes—by requiring that the U.S. Copyright Office issue a copyright certificate before a copyright holder may file a copyright violation lawsuit. Critics also say that the new law would encourage “copyright trolls” because the easier system would allow fake or spurious claims to be filed more easily. But the law supposedly protects against “trolling” by allowing either party to opt out of the small claims system and take the case to federal court. Photo By Kmccoy / Wikimedia Commons