There are just a few weeks left in this Congress to pass the CASE Act. The bill passed the House by an overwhelming majority. However, it still needs to pass through the Senate (and then be signed by the President) before it can be enacted into law. If it doesn’t pass the Senate during the coming weeks, we have to start all over in the next Congress.
You can support artists by contacting your Senators and urging them to pass the CASE Act (bill number S. 1273). Here is a link to send an email: https://p2a.co/21l3imn
More about the CASE Act with sources:
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“This bill creates the Copyright Claims Board, a body within the U.S. Copyright Office, to decide copyright disputes. Damages awarded by the board are capped at $30,000.”
– https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/2426
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“At this time, federal courts have jurisdiction over copyright, and federal litigation is expensive. Many professional creators and small businesses cannot afford to defend their rights when someone infringes their copyrighted works. You can learn more about this issue in this piece written by Oregon Creators, Lisa Dillon and Bryan Welsh. As a result, these infringements regularly go unchallenged, leading many creators to feel disenfranchised by the copyright system. As a result, many creators have rights but no remedies.”
– https://copyrightalliance.org/news-events/copyright-news-newsletters/copyright-small-claims/
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“A bill to amend title 17, United States Code, to establish an alternative dispute resolution program for copyright small claims, and for other purposes.”
– CASE Act of 2019 (S. 1273) – GovTrack.uswww.govtrack.us › congress › bills
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“Under the current system, authors whose work has been copied or infringed upon have no cost-effective way to get compensated. The high cost of legal action they need to take (sometimes tens of thousands of dollars) could significantly outweigh the damages they might be awarded. They also can’t bring a claim in a state court because the law requires copyright cases to be heard in federal court.”
– https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/466742-the-case-for-the-case-act
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If you have other questions, check out this post from the Copyright Alliance: https://copyrightalliance.org/ca_post/the-case-act-you-have-questions-we-have-the-answers/?_zs=5qV4b&_zl=f3mJ2
