Proposal for a "Small Claims" Type Court for Copyright Infringement Cases

[Mutt]

http://thecopyrightzone.com/?p=790

If Not Now, When?

As many of you know, under the auspices of APA, Ed created with Prof. Nimmer, a proposed system by which the Federal Courts could hear ?smaller? copyright infringement cases on an economical and expedited basis. After seeing so many straightforward smaller infringement cases becoming protracted legal cases where attorneys increased their fees by stalling, Ed set out to develop a system whereby the Federal Courts which are geared to handling complex cases, could expedite and thus reduce the costs involved in cases valued under $100,000. This is vitally important for photographers to create a level playing field for themselves.

Ed has been working on the idea for years and recently the APA working with members of Congress pushed for the adoption of the necessary changes in court procedures. You can download a PDF of the press release, titled ?APA Plays Important Role at Intellectual Property Small Claims Roundtable? by clicking on this link.

Now here?s the important part. The Copyright Office in Washington, DC is seeking additional comments and suggestion regarding how such a system should be set up and operates. Public meetings on the issue are tentatively scheduled for New York City on November 15 and 16, 2012, and in Los Angeles on November 26 and 27, 2012.

For more information about this process go to the Copyright Office website here. To get information on how to participate or attend the hearings, click on the link on that page that reads ?Second Notice of Inquiry?. The deadline for such requests is October 15, 2012.

Also note, comments can be submitted by anyone until September 26th, 2012.

So if you want to be heard on this subject that directly affects your bottom line, take the time to send in your comments to your employees over at the federal government. The feds have actually made the process easy. You have no excuse to be silent. Now is the time to act.

As the famous Jewish scholar Rabbi Hillel once said, ?If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when??

[rowan]

It's scary that up to $100k in costs is considered a small case.

It's also scary that 12 hours later this is the only reply to this thread.

[Nautilus]

Very interesting idea, hopefully it will not take years to implement it.

[CarlosTheGaucho]

This would for sure make a lot of sense, as most of those default judgements in the higher $$$ range require an upfront investment and once successful they are hard to recoup anyway.

This would for sure promise much more effectiveness.

[pornguy]

It saves money and makes sense..


wont happen.

[Barry-xlovecam]

The Defendant just responds to the complaint by not submitting to the Court Rules of the Small Claims Court (varies if by state) and the case must be moved to the normal courts with competent jurisdiction ...

There is no appeal in most states of Small Claims Court Judgements. You have to agree to forfeit that constitutional right to have the case proceed against you in the Small Claims Court's jurisdiction

A new division of the US Federal Circuit Courts -- "the Copyright Courts" -- could be established in theory and allow its judgements to be appealed to the superior federal courts, circumventing this legal maneuver ...