By Jason Kelley
As we feared, the “Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims
Enforcement Act”—the CASE Act—that we’ve been fighting in
various
forms for two
years has been included in Congress’ $900 billion Coronavirus
relief package. This new legislation means Internet users could
face up to $30,000 in penalties for sharing a meme or making a
video, with liability determined not by neutral judges but by
biased bureaucrats.
The CASE Act is supposed to be a solution to the complicated
problem of online copyright infringement. In reality, it creates a
system that will harm everyday users who, unlike the big players,
won’t have the time and capacity to negotiate this new
bureaucracy. In essence, it creates a new “Copyright Claims
Board” in the Copyright Office that will be empowered to
adjudicate copyright infringement claims, unless the accused
received a notice, recognizes what it means, and opts out—in a
very specific manner, within a limited time period. The Board will
be staffed by “claims officers,” not judges or juries. You can
appeal their rulings, but only on a limited basis, so you may be
stuck with whatever amount the “claims board” decides you owe.
Large, well-resourced players will not be affected, as they will
have the resources to track notices and simply refuse to
participate. The rest of us? We’ll be on the hook.
The relief bill also included an altered version of a
felony streaming bill that is, thankfully, not as destructive
as it could have been. While the legislation as written is
troubling, an earlier version would have been even more dangerous,
targeting not only large-scale, for-profit streaming services, but
everyday users as well.
We’re continuing the fight against the CASE Act, but today
brings even bigger problems. Senator Thom Tillis, who authored the
felony streaming legislation, launched a “discussion draft” of
the so-called Digital Copyright Act. Put simply, it is a hot mess
of a bill that will rewrite decades of copyright law, give the
Copyright Office (hardly a neutral player) the keys to the
Internet, and drastically undermine speech and innovation in the
name of policing copyright infringement. Read
more analysis of this catastrophic bill here.
Internet users and innovators, as well as the basic legal norms
that have supported online expression for decades, are under
attack. With your help, we will be continuing to fight back, as we
have for thirty years, into 2021 and beyond. Fair use has a posse,
and
we hope you’ll join it.
Source:
EFF.org
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