Today, the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) announced its support for H.R. 3945, a bill introduced by Representative Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) to create a small claims court within the Copyright Office—ASMP’s top legislative priority. The “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2017” (the “CASE Act”) is also cosponsored by Representatives Tom Marino (R-PA), Lamar Smith (R-TX), Doug Collins (R-GA), Judy Chu (D-CA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA).
Tom Kennedy, Executive Director of ASMP stated that “the introduction of the CASE Act is a critical step in the several 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 Mr. Jeffries and his colleagues “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 owners 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.”
Here are links to the press release issued by Rep. Jeffries and his colleagues earlier today announcing the introduction of the bill, a press release issued by ASMP and several other visual artist organizations praising the introduction of the H.R. 3945 legislation.
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