It’s time to get involved in protecting your copyrights if you’re a photographer based in the USA. The H.R. 3945 CASE Act is a piece of legislation that has been winding its way through Congress since October 2017, and it would allow photographers to better protect and defend their copyrights, but it needs your help!
The CASE Act allows photographers to protect their copyrights in small claims court rather than going through the federal court system. Since a majority of infringements are valued at only a few thousand dollars, this will serve professional photographers as well as other creatives to protect their copyright with a small claims process. The only way this bill will move out of committee is through a wholehearted effort from the photography community. So, every creative's voice matters right now to help push this legislation on.
The CASE Act is supported by Professional Photographers of America and has been campaigned at the doorstep of lawmakers by their leadership, but they need a multitude of voices to push the legislation through. If you’ve ever had an infringement of your copyright, then it’s time to get motivated to be heard by your representatives. PPA has a link to easily send a letter to your local representative affirming your value as an artist and standing up to theft of your imagery and intellectual property. Fill out the letter here. Get involved and protect your work and your rights!
Lead image provided by Pixabay User 12019, used under Creative Commons.
Done. Hopefully everyone does this.
Done and received an automated response from my Congressman.
Done. Thanks for the heads up.
Done in under a minute. Great link. Thanks for posting.
Done! and thank you
This is a very good thing, and do write in, but some clarifications. One, this is not a court, in that you can't force the other party into the process. They can simply opt out and then you can do what's available now, sue in Federal Court. It's not called a court in any of the proposed legislation.It's more like making arbitration available.
Two, your work has to be registered and you can't proceed in the process without the registration certificate. Why PPA doesn't inform more about the importance of registration is a mystery to me. Especially with the new, not favorable to photographer changes in the registration procedure, namely the 750 image limitation per application.
Lastly, ASMP, APA, and a few other trade associations are all involved in this within a group called the Copyright Alliance. PPA has the most financial resources and probably does the most, but the other trade groups are also involved.
But in the end, please do support this bill.
The UK has had a small claims court for Intellectual Property (IPEC) for some time now and it has been very successful. US photographers should definitely push for this initiative.
Done, and posted on FB. Thanks for sharing this.
This will never happen. Local courts won’t get involved with copyrights and trademarks. Plus, the guy that introduced the bill is a Democrat from my State of NY. This bill is dead in the water. Signing these petition letters will yield the same result as the Tappan Zee Bridge fiasco. Don’t hate the messager! Like Jack R addressed - over 90% of photographers don’t upload their images to the Library of Congress.
Copyright Small-Claims Court:
To address the rampant copyright infringements photographers and other creatives routinely face, Congress recently introduced new bipartisan copyright legislation: The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (the CASE Act): https://copyrightalliance.org/ca_post/the-case-act-you-have-questions-we...
The CASE Act will provide the creative community with an opportunity to enforce their copyrights in a small-claims-type venue, removing the financial hardship of filing a prolonged and costly federal litigation action that many creatives simply can’t afford.
The CASE Act would permit copyright infringement disputes to be resolve more economically, quickly, and efficiently.
To support Congress establishing a small-claims copyright court, visit the following link (PPA) to fill out a template letter that will automatically be sent to your Congressional representatives: https://www.ppa.com/smallclaims. It’ll take about 2-minutes to fill out.
Most all professional arts associations, including ASMP, NPPA, PPA, GAG, and ASJA, eagerly want Congress to pass the CASE Act.
We need your signatures to make this happen!