Maine small creators will benefit from new federal 'copyright court'
Photo / Brenda Buchanan
Author Doug Preston, right, speaks at the the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance Crimewave conference in 2018. Preston is the president of the national Authors Guild. With Preston is book reviewer Katrina Nidas-Holm, left, and Preston's editor, Millicent Bennett.
The federal financial package passed by Congress this week includes long-sought legislation that will help those who post copyrighted content on the internet pursue legal action against those who steal their work.
The CASE Act establishes a mediation panel for copyright claims of $30,000 or less. It is considered a win nationwide, but particularly in Maine, which has a large number of independent and individual creators, said Douglas Preston, president of the Authors Guild, which was instrumental in getting the legislation before Congress.
"By establishing a small claims court in the Copyright Office, the CASE Act finally gives small creators a remedy against the theft of their creative work, which has exploded since the establishment of the internet," Preston, a Maine resident and writer, told Mainebiz. "The new law is especially important for Maine, because we are one of the top states for small creators in the country. We have many writers, artists, musicians, photographers, nonprofits and small businesses that own copyrights."
Without the law, the only remedy for copyright infringement is a costly lawsuit in federal court, "which only large corporations can afford," Preston said.
"Now, anyone who has had their work stolen off the internet can file a claim for a modest filing fee, without hiring a lawyer, and testify remotely," he said.
CASE stands for "copyright alternative in small-claims enforcement." The act establishes a three-member mediation panel in the U.S. Copyright Office that would hear infringement claims of up to $15,000 per work and a $30,000 total per claim, including those through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. As part of the federal stimulus package passed by the House and the Senate Monday, it becomes law once the president signs the bill, or Congress overrides a veto.
Anyone who publishes copyrighted content digitally can bring a claim, including photographers, graphic artists, online businesses and more. The act is extra-judicial, which means that defendants can't be legally forced to take part in the mediation. That said, once they do, decisions rendered by the panel are enforceable in court.
The Authors Guild, which is the nation’s largest and oldest association of authors and journalists, has been working for more than a decade on passage of the CASE Act, Preston said.
The legislation was first introduced in Congress in 2016, but didn't go far. It was reintroduced last year and passed with a 410-6 vote in October 2019. A similar Senate bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee in 2019. But neither bill went any farther until last week, when they were added into the omnibus stimulus bill in a three-bill grouping that includes the Trademark Modernization Act and the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act.
Law welcomed by Maine writers, publishers
The new law is welcomed by the Maine Publishers and Writers Alliance. The alliance represents writers, publishers, booksellers and others involved in Maine's writing and publishing industry, and has more than 1,400 active members and 342 professional writers listed on its "find Maine writers" page.
"Like those around the country, Maine authors need more ways to push back against people who try to steal their work, which is, unfortunately, more and more common, and part of a well-documented downward trend on compensation for writers," MWPA Executive Director Gibson Fay-LeBlanc told Mainebiz.
He said that Maine has been lucky to have writers with strong ties to the state who also serve in prominent roles with the Author's Guild, like Preston, as well as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo and Roxanna Robinson.
Jon Eaton, co-publisher of Tilbury House Publishers in Thomaston, said it will take time to see how the legislation plays out in practice.
"In my experience, content creators — including authors, illustrators and publishers — are careful to stay on the right side of copyright law and to respect the rights of other content creators," he said. "Copyright trespasses on our books are infrequent, and when they do occur the bad actors are almost always websites and internet trolls looking to monetize stolen content."
He hasn't reviewed the legislation, so didn't want to discuss specifics. "Anything that helps creators protect their creations seems like a good thing," he added. "But whether this legislation is well constructed, and whether it will provide any protection against internet trolls, I have no idea."
Besides the Authors Guild, the act is supported by the Copyright Alliance, Professional Photographers of America, American Society of Media Photographers, International Authors Forum, Graphic Artists Guild, NAACP, AFL-CIO, American Conservative Union, American Bar Association and U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Critics of the bill say it is weakened because alleged offenders can't be forced into mediation. Others say that it actually endangers online creators, who can find themselves more subject to legal action.
"It creates an obscure, labyrinthine system that will be easy for the big players to find their way out of," the Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the bill's most vocal critics, says on its website. "Congress has not heard enough from those of us who would be most affected by CASE: regular, everyday Internet users who could end up owing thousands of dollars."
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