From Publishing Perspectives:
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) has released a statement late today (October 22), applauding the US House of Representatives resounding passage of the CASE Act, as it’s known, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement act.
As Publishing Perspectives readers know, this is the legislation that, in the language of the Copyright Alliance, “creates a voluntary small claims board within the US Copyright Office that will provide copyright owners with an alternative to the expensive process of bringing copyright claims, including infringement and misrepresentation under 512(f), in federal court.
“This new board, called the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), would allow recovery in each case of up to US$30,000 in damages total, with a cap of US$15,000 in statutory damages per work infringed.”
. . . .
In its statement, the AAP cheers the CASE Act on, writing, “Going into the Senate, the CASE Act enjoys an impressive range of support from major organizations on all sides of the political spectrum, including the US Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the American Conservative Union, the American Bar Association, among many others.
. . . .
The Washington-based Copyright Alliance—an advocacy nonprofit for the promotion and preservation of the value of copyright—has also issued a statement today, hailing the House’s vote.
In that statement, the alliance’s CEO, Keith Kupferschmid, points out that there have been critics of the CASE Act, notably the Electronic Frontier Foundation, this bill would re-ignite the nationwide problem of copyright trolling, just as the federal courts are beginning to address this abusive practice.”
Link to the rest at Publishing Perspectives
I guess I’m more of an optimist than some. While the deep-pocketed may indeed continue ripping off us little guys, I’m hopeful that if this passes & becomes law, it will scare some of the (legion of) self-important thieves.
The prospect of being sued & held accountable might stick a pin in these pirates’ obnoxious claims that “information ought to be free” and that they’re just like libraries (they aren’t).
Fingers crossed!
“This new board, called the Copyright Claims Board (CCB), would allow recovery in each case of up to US$30,000 in damages total, with a cap of US$15,000 in statutory damages per work infringed.”
I still smell a rat in this because it makes it cheap for a large corporation to do whatever they want with other people’s copyrights.
“$30k? Heck, here ya go – as it would cost us more in just our own lawyers to fight a case where we know we did wrong.”
“…and we already made several hundred thousand dollars before we got shut down.”
Note that this “reform” still allows the deep pocketed to destroy those light in the wallet, or discourage them early in the process – both sides have to agree to settle things in this new court. The legal brigade can still be deployed when it is worth it to them (the big publisher) to do so.
(Not going to get started on the “all sides of the political spectrum.” Lucky for me I didn’t have a drink in my hand when I read that one.)