ASMP outside counsel, Mike Klipper, and ASMP Executive Director, Tom Kennedy, on the Hill for House CASE Act introduction © Press On the Potomac
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) announced its strong support for legislation introduced today in both the House and Senate that would create a small claims tribunal within the United States Copyright Office–ASMP’s top legislative priority. The bill entitled, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (the “CASE Act”), HR 2426, was introduced in the House by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Doug Collins (R-GA) and is co-sponsored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), as well as Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA), Martha Roby (R-AL), Judy Chu (D-CA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Ben Cline (R-VA) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
An identical version of the bill, S. 1273, was also introduced today in the Senate by Senators John Kennedy (R-LA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
The legislation introduced today in the House and Senate is a slightly revised version of a bill introduced in the last Congress in the House of Representatives and the subject of hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27, 2018.
Tom Kennedy, executive director of ASMP stated that “the introduction of the CASE Act is a critical step in the many-years-long effort by ASMP and its colleagues in the creative community to correct an historic inequity in the copyright law: the failure of the law to provide individual creators with an effective and affordable means to combat infringements of their creative works—an especially vexing problem in a digital environment where piracy occurs at the click of a mouse.”
Kennedy thanked the bipartisan group of Representatives and Senators supporting the CASE Act “for their recognition of the need to enact legislation to correct the current untenable situation that all too often effectively denies individual creators and small business persons access to federal courts to combat infringements of their creative efforts.” “Under this legislation,” Kennedy continued, “these artists will have a viable alternative to the often prohibitively expensive federal court system, and their creative efforts will be appropriately protected so that they are incentivized to continue producing works that change how people see their world.”
Other CASE Act supporters include:
- American Association of Independent Music
- American Intellectual Property Law Association
- American Photographic Artists
- American Society for Collective Rights Licensing
- American Society of Journalists and Authors
- Association of American Publishers
- Authors Guild
- Copyright Alliance
- Digital Media Licensing Association
- Dramatists Guild of America
- Future of Music Coalition
- Garden Communicators International
- Graphic Artists Guild
- Horror Writers’ Association
- Nashville Songwriters Association International
- National Press Photographers Association
- National Writers Union/UAW Local 1981
- News Media Alliance
- North American Nature Photography Association
- Novelists, Inc.
- Professional Photographers of America
- Recording Academy
- Industry Association of America
- Romance Writers of America
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America; Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA)
- Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators
- Songwriters Guild of America