Copyright Claims Board (“CCB”) is open for business!
Litigating copyright infringement cases in federal court can be very expensive, complicated, and time consuming, prompting those with relatively small claims—not the cases you read about in the news—to avoid enforcing their rights. To combat this, Congress enacted the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (“CASE”) Act in 2020, which established a Copyright Claims Board (“CCB”) to hear the following types of “small claims” in a streamlined format:
copyright infringement claims
declarations of noninfringement
misrepresentations in notices or counter-notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
For copyright infringement and misrepresentation claims, damages awards are capped at $30,000. For declarations of noninfringement, there are no financial awards. Instead, a successful claimant receives a determination that the use isn’t copyright infringement.
Additionally, CCB proceedings have a “smaller claims” track, that is, a further streamlined format for claims which caps damages at $5,000. Furthermore, even though copyright registration is still required for the CCB to render a decision on copyright infringement, the CASE Act allows a claimant to file a copyright infringement claim with the CCB at the same time as filling an application for copyright registration. This is different than in federal court, where unless particular exceptions apply, a registration is required before a copyright owner may institute litigation (see our blog post).
The hope is that these small claims and smaller claims proceedings, which are a voluntary alternative to federal court designed so that individuals and business may take part remotely and without the assistance of a lawyer, will provide the mechanism for more creatives to protect their original works of authorship. Claims may be filed with the CCB starting June 16, 2022.
For more information on the CCB, please visit https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2022/969.html or contact us. If you do pursue a copyright infringement claim with the CCB, please contact us to learn more about registering your work with the Copyright Office.