The American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU) recently said that the CASE Act, which would constitute
a copyright “small claims” court, could be disastrous for free speech.
The Copyright
Alternative in the Small Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (CASE Act of 2019),
which was introduced on 1st May 2019 in the US House of Representatives by Rep.
Hakeem Jeffries, would soon establish the Copyright Claims Board in the US
Copyright Office. The idea on which this reform focuses is to facilitate
independent creators with a cheaper and easier way in comparison to the federal
district court litigation to safeguard their Intellectual
Property (IP).
Nonetheless, ACLU said
that though the idea emphasizes this aspect, yet there are unintended
consequences, which can make the legislation a disaster for free speech. It
also added that the bill is fixable, but must be fixed.
Kate Ruane, ACLU’s
senior legislative counsel, said that they welcome and support the goal of
removing or reforming some barriers that could prevent right holders from
defending their copyrighted works, but the US Congress first needs to revise
the bill to ensure that there are appropriate safeguards to protect the freedom
of speech and due process.
Ruane wrote that the
last thing the US Congress should be doing at this moment is providing another
government party with broad powers to function without proper legal
oversight.The Copyright Claims Board will make mistakes, and the system will
get abused. Individuals or businesses who are fairly or unknowingly using
copyrighted works could forcefully have to pay a fine of $30,000 for these
mistakes. The addition of another layer of government in the process makes ACLU
unhappy.
She further wrote that
ACLU is worried about having a government with limited oversight about
determining what is fair use and safeguarded speech displaying that affected
parties could include almost every internet surfer. For instance, those who
have ever shared a photo or blog without knowing if they had appropriate
permission or even those have posted videos of themselves singing on the latest
pop song. With no court to correct the mistakes, the amendment will suffer.
The News Media
Alliance, Authors Guild, RIAA, SAG-AFTRA, and the Copyright Alliance are among
the groups supporting the bill; whereas fair use standard-bearer Public
Knowledge and the Consumer Technology Association, which makes the technology
that enables the distribution of intellectual property, fair use and foul, in
addition to ACLU, are the opponents.
Bill cosponsors include:
·
Jerrold
Lewis Nadler (D-N.Y.), chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee,
·
Martha
Roby (R-Ala.), a ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts,
Intellectual Property and the Internet,
·
Hank
Johnson (D-Ga.), chairman of the US House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts,
Intellectual Property and the Internet,
·
US
Representatives Ted Lieu (D-C), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), and
Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.). For view-source: https://www.kashishipr.com/blog/aclu-opposes-case-acts-copyright-small-claims-court/
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