Small Claims Copyright Bill Passes House, May Help Porn Creators

The United States House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a new copyright law that could, in theory, help producers of adult video content sue for copyright infringement when their clips are posted without permission on tube sites and other places online.  As AVN.com reported in coverage of the CASE act in May, the bill is designed to help “middle class” copyright holders such as independent musicians, photographers and other artists recover licensing fees for their work, but would apply to anyone who produces original content, including porn. Under the current system, copyright infringement suits must be pursued in federal court, which is invariably a prohibitively expensive and time-consuming process. HR 2426, aka the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act, or CASE, would create a “small claims” court system specifically for claims of $15,000 or less, with a total recovery amount capped at $30,000 for any combination of claims. Under the bill, creators who claim that their copyrights have been infringed would not need to hire lawyers or even appear in person before the new “Copyright Claim Board” created by the act. But civil liberties and online freedom advocates see dangers with the bill—namely, according to the legal analysis site Verdict by Justia, the fact that “practically everyone, on any given day, commits copyright infringement. Many of the emails we resend, memes we post, and the videos and pictures we take could technically be violations of copyright law.” In other words, by making suing for copyright violation a low-cost, mostly painless process, the bill opens pretty much everyone to copyright lawsuits, and encourages predatory lawsuits by copyright holders looking to make a quick buck by suing over “any unauthorized use of their work no matter how small, unintentional or protected by the defense of fair use,” according to the analysis. The American Civil Liberties Union, in a letter to Congress on Monday, also urged lawmakers to vote the bill down. “Any system to enable easier enforcement of copyrights runs the risk of creating a chilling effect with respect to speech online,” the ACLU wrote, as quoted by The Verge. “Many of these cases will be legitimate. However, some will not, and others, even if brought in good faith, may be defensible as fair use or for some other permissible reason.” The bill was authored by New York City Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, and passed the House with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, 410-6. The five Republicans voted against the bill, along with former Republican-turned-independent Justin Amash. The 15 House members who missed the vote included seven Republicans and eight Democrats—among them current Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. The bill must now be approved by the Senate. Photo by Architect of the Capitol / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain