October 6, 2017
Publishers Support Small Claims Legislation Introduced by House
Washington, DC; October 6, 2017 – The Association of American Publishers (AAP) supports the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2017 (or the CASE Act of 2017), a bi-partisan initiative introduced earlier this week. We commend Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), and Reps. Doug Collins (R-GA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Judy Chu (D-CA), and Ted Lieu (D-CA) for their leadership on this legislation, which would establish a process within the U.S. Copyright Office for resolving disputes involving low-value claims.
As it stands today, both copyright claimants and copyright defendants are at a loss for affordable dispute resolution when it comes to small claims. A report of the American Intellectual Property Law Association stated that the average cost of litigating a copyright infringement case in federal court from pre-trial through the appeals process is $278,000 – an amount which is out of reach for many authors, publishers and related businesses in the copyright ecosystem.
“We applaud these members of Congress for crafting legislation that is precisely responsive to the problem at hand,” said AAP President and CEO Maria A. Pallante. “We look forward to working with all relevant stakeholders on this important and well-documented initiative.”
A copy of the bill can be found here.