Copyright Office Proposes Small Claims Tribunal
Good news for visual artists. The US Copyright Office has proposed legislation that would enable copyright owners to enforce their rights for smaller-value claims.
Here’s a nice recap from the law firm of Holland & Knight.
If Congress enacts legislation according to the Copyright Office’s proposal, copyright owners will be able to file claims that traditionally would not have been worth the expense of an action in federal court. This is true regardless of whether the copyright owner is an individual or a large corporate entity. The streamlined tribunal process will prevent a “Goliath” defendant from relying on federal litigation to discourage claims by a small “David” within the creative and tech industries. Conversely, large-entity copyright holders will have a cost-effective method to prevent widespread infringing uses of their content. The net effect promises to be increased respect for the protection afforded to rights holders, and ultimately better remuneration for those rights holders.
Jonathan Tobin, Esq.:
November 18th, 2013 at 8:41 pm
One concern I had about this was that the proposal made participation in the tribunals voluntary. Do you know anything about that or have any insight as to how it would play out?
I think we need a system like this, for sure.