Copyright Office Recommends Voluntary Tribunal for Small Claims
Congress should establish an alternative voluntary system of adjudication for copyright claims of low economic value, recommended the U.S. Copyright Office in a Monday report on copyright small claims (http://1.usa.gov/19cBYbX). It proposed a centralized, three-member tribunal be housed within the office to adjudicate disputes relating to copyright infringement claims valued under $30,000 in damages.
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It’s great the office is taking action on the small claims issue, since it’s “often virtually impossible for individual traders and small businesses to address their copyright infringement,” Copyright Alliance Executive Director Sandra Aistars told us. She said copyright holders and users of copyrighted works supported the proposal in theory, but there have been questions about the constitutionality of such a process and the kind of implementation that could ensure rightsholders and defendants could both press their claims. Future of Music Interim Executive Director Casey Rae said there’s a lot of general support for the idea, but “it will be interesting to see” what stakeholders think of specific provisions, now that the recommendations have been released.
There is a “really, really compelling reason” to create an alternative adjudication method because the current system doesn’t always afford small creators the same legal protections as large companies, said Rae. He commended the Copyright Office for making the recommendations, saying “a lot of them are probably long overdue.” Few stakeholders had comment at our deadline, and both Aistars and Rae cautioned that they had yet to read the entire 150-page report. It sprung from three notices of inquiry issued in recent years, which had drawn 100-plus comments from many major stakeholders in the copyright field, including the MPAA, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Getty Images and the Songwriters Guild of America.
The office recommended the tribunal administer proceedings online and in teleconferences. It said two members should have experience in copyright law both from an owner and user perspective, and the third should have a background in alternative dispute resolution. The tribunal would be a “voluntary alternative to federal court,” it said, for cases valued at less than $30,000 in damages. Responding parties would be required to agree to the process, with statutory damages limited to $15,000 per work. “The tribunal would retain the discretion to dismiss without prejudice any claim that it did not believe could fairly be adjudicated through the small claims process,” said the report.
"It appears beyond dispute that under the current federal system small copyright claimants face formidable challenges in seeking to enforce the exclusive rights to which they are entitled,” the report said. Its recommendations referenced comments from the American Photographic Artists and the Songwriters Guild of America, which both said the current system deters authors and others from asserting their rights and encourages copyright infringement. Lawyers’ groups emphasized a need for alternatives to federal litigation, said the office.
A House Judiciary aide had no comment right away on whether Chairman Robert Goodlatte’s review of copyright would take up the issue in a future hearing. Lawmakers addressed the issue several years ago, when many agreed a small claims court could ease content creators’ legal costs.
Three types of forums for dispute adjudication were considered, including systems at the federal and state level, said the office. “Because, at least under current conditions, there appears to be no clear path by which Congress could reliably introduce a copyright small claims process into the existing federal or state court systems, the Copyright Office proposes that Congress consider instead the creation of a specialized administrative entity for this purpose.” Many of the comments the office received pointed to such an alternative process, it said. It said commenters had “strong opinions” on whether the process should be mandatory or voluntary, but concluded that only a voluntary system would be constitutionally appropriate.
Commenters also called for the inclusion of judges with a background in copyright law “almost universally,” said the report, saying many pointed to the legal area’s complexity. Most also supported a centralized process that does not require personal appearances, it said. It also rejected a proposal that the Copyright Royalty Board take on the adjudication role, since the CRB focuses largely on issues like royalty rates “at the opposite end of the spectrum” of copyright.