July 19, 2019

The Graphic Artists Guild applauds the Senate Judiciary Committee for passing S 1273, The CASE Act (The Copyright Alternative in Small Claims Enforcement Act of 2019), through markup. The Bill was discussed and passed by the Committee during a markup hearing on July 18. The Bill now proceeds to the full Senate for consideration.

The CASE Act was introduced into the Senate on May 1st by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), with Thom Tillis (R-NC), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) as original co-sp0nsors. During the intervening weeks, and additional 11 Senators supported the Bill as co-sponsors, with Judiciary Committee members Senators Cruz (R-TX), Feinstein (D-CA), Blumenthal (D-CT), and Cornyn (R-TX) signing on during the markup hearing.

The Guild credits the outpouring of grassroots support from our members and from individual artists with raising awareness of The CASE Act among the Members of Congress. During meetings with Congressional staff before and after the hearings, we were told that the emails, calls and letters from constituents impressed upon the Members of Congress the need for a small copyright claims solution for individual artists.

The CASE Act would establish a small copyright claims tribunal which, much like a small claims court, would hear low-value copyright cases in an low-cost, expedited fashion. The purpose of the Bill is to give individual creators and small businesses holding copyrights an avenue to defend their copyrights against infringers. Currently, the high cost of bringing an infringement lawsuit into federal court, coupled with the difficulty in finding legal counsel to take small copyright infringement cases, deter individual creators from being able to pursue infringement lawsuits.