Jeffries, Marino File Copyright Small Claims Process Legislation

Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Tom Marino, R-Pa., bowed their Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act. As expected (see 1606080068), the bill mirrors a 2013 Copyright Office recommendation for establishing a voluntary process for adjudicating small copyright infringement claims. HR-5757 would establish the three-member Copyright Claims Board within the CO to “serve as an alternative forum in which parties may voluntarily seek to resolve certain copyright claims, regarding any category of copyrighted work.” The librarian of Congress would appoint the CCB's three members to a six-year term based on the register of copyrights' recommendation. The CCB's initial appointees would have shorter terms under HR-5757 to allow future board appointments to be staggered, with one CCB member having only a four-year term and one a five-year term. The bill would require CCB members to have at least seven years of legal experience. HR-5757 would mandate that at least two of the three CCB members have “substantial experience in the evaluation, litigation, or adjudication of copyright infringement claims and, between them, shall have represented or presided over a diversity of copyright interests, including those of both owners and users of copyrighted works.” The CCB also would include at least two full-time copyright claims lawyers under HR-5757. The bill requires the CCB lawyers to have at least three years of copyright-related legal experience. “It is time” for the House Judiciary Committee to “start moving forward with legislative measures that reflect the lessons we have learned in the context” of the committee's Copyright Act review, Marino said in a statement. “Providing a voluntary process to resolve small copyright disputes will result in increased registration, proper licensing and less infringement. This is good for our economy, it is good for the creative community, and it is good for” the CO. “Federal litigation is simply out of reach for many individual creators and small businesses, leaving them a right without a remedy,” said Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid in a Wednesday statement. “We are ... grateful for their willingness to look for ways to help individual creators who lack the resources to use the federal court system to enforce their copyrights.” Newspaper Association of America President David Chavern said in a letter the bill “will be particularly helpful for many of those individual creators and small businesses who face copyright issues, yet find federal litigation to be out of reach. The hard work of individuals who create content can be put in jeopardy, and many times they are left without a remedy.”