Category: Legislation and Government Regulation

"The CASE Act: The Road to Copyright Trolling is Paved with Good Intentions"

Stan Adams has published "The CASE Act: The Road to Copyright Trolling is Paved with Good Intentions " in the Center for Democracy & Technology Blog.

Here's an excerpt:

The bill would establish a Copyright Claims Board (CCB) in the Copyright Office. This would not be a court and would be entirely separated from the court system. The only option to appeal any of the CCB's determinations, based on the CCB's legal interpretation, would be to ask the Register of Copyrights to review the decision. It would be theoretically possible to ask a federal court to review the determination, but only on the grounds that the CCB's determination was "issued as a result of fraud, corruption, misrepresentation, or other misconduct" or if the CCB exceeded its authority. So if you disagree with the CCB's legal interpretation, or even its competence to make a decision, you are out of luck. This raises red flags about potential due process and separation of powers problems under the Constitution.

The "small claims" part of the bill is also troubling, in that the CCB can award damages up to $30,000 per proceeding. This amount is only considered small in the context of copyright statutory damages, which range between $750-30,000 per work infringed, unless the infringement was willful, in which case, damages can be $150,000 per work. The $30K cap is a 2x-10x multiple of the maximum awards for small claims courts in 49 of 50 states. . . .

Even though the Supreme Court recently ruled that the registration process must be completed (either the Copyright Office granted or denied the application for registration) before filing infringement claims, registration is not required to bring an action under the CASE Act. This leaves everyone (other than the original author/photographer) with no guaranteed way to determine who holds the rights to unregistered works. Even if you identified someone as a potential rightsholder, it could be difficult or impossible to verify their claim of ownership without the official recognition by the Copyright Office. So even if you are acting in good faith and attempt to obtain permission before using a work, you may not be able to do so and there is no guarantee that you will have obtained permission from the correct party, leaving you exposed to claims via the CASE Act.

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"Assessing the Current State of Net Neutrality and Exploring Solutions in Creating and Maintaining Open, Available, and Innovative Internet and Broadband Services"

Robbie Troiano has published "Assessing the Current State of Net Neutrality and Exploring Solutions in Creating and Maintaining Open, Available, and Innovative Internet and Broadband Services" in the Journal of Business & Technology Law.

Here's an excerpt:

The Article will provide an extensive background of net neutrality in the United States, discussing the pertinent case law and legislation that shaped the modern Internet regulatory landscape. It will conclude by discussing the current state of the law, focusing on the perspectives of proponents and opponents of the law as it currently stands under the Restoring Internet Freedom Order.

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CASE Act: "Life-Altering Copyright Lawsuits Could Come to Regular Internet Users Under a New Law Moving in the Senate"

The EFF has released "Life-Altering Copyright Lawsuits Could Come to Regular Internet Users Under a New Law Moving in the Senate."

Here's an excerpt:

In short, the bill would supercharge a "copyright troll" industry dedicated to filing as many "small claims" on as many Internet users as possible in order to make money through the bill’s statutory damages provisions. Every single person who uses the Internet and regularly interacts with copyrighted works (that's everyone) should contact their Senators to oppose this bill.

Making it so easy to sue Internet users for allegedly infringing a copyrighted work that an infringement claim comes to resemble a traffic ticket is a terrible idea. This bill creates a situation where Internet users could easily be on the hook for multiple $5,000 copyright infringement judgments without many of the traditional legal safeguards or rights of appeal our justice system provides.

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Research Library Issues, no. 297 (2019): The Current Privacy Landscape

ARL has released Research Library Issues, no. 297 (2019): The Current Privacy Landscape.

Here's an excerpt from the "Introduction" by Mary Lee Kennedy:

In this first issue of Research Library Issues (RLI) in 2019, the authors explore privacy from a legal, digital, and applied perspective, with a focus on the implications and opportunities for research libraries. The current privacy landscape highlights the need for a nuanced understanding of the complicated nature of privacy today. Research libraries need to collaborate with other privacy-related constituents within institutions and in the public policy and legislative arenas, and act as trusted institutions within a democratic society.

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