Washington, DC – Today, Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid issued the following statement in response to the Manager’s Amendment to the CASE Act being unanimously passed out of the House Judiciary Committee by voice vote:

“We applaud the House Judiciary Committee for overwhelmingly passing the Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 2426, the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2019 (CASE Act), legislation that will provide U.S. creators with a viable means for defending their copyrighted works through the creation of a small claims tribunal within the U.S. Copyright Office.

“The CASE Act is a legislative priority for hundreds of thousands of photographers, illustrators, graphic artists, songwriters, authors, bloggers, YouTubers and many other creators and small businesses across the country. These creators are the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. But it’s an unfortunate truth that they have rights but no means to enforce them because federal court is too expensive and complex to navigate. The copyright law should protect all of America’s creators. However, today it only protects a select few who can afford the high costs of federal court and legal representation. The CASE Act will change this by providing creators with a voluntary, inexpensive, and streamlined alternative that they can use to protect their creativity and their livelihoods.

“The fact that the CASE Act has now passed both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees without a single vote against the bill, and that the number of House co-sponsors is quickly approaching triple digits, demonstrates the tremendous support and momentum for this bill – one that is of utmost importance to individual creators and small business throughout the United States, as well as the many people making fair use of copyrighted works.

“There’s a long list of supporters in Congress that we want to thank for their unbridled support of the CASE Act and the creative community. At the top of that list is Representatives Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Doug Collins (R-GA) for their leadership in introducing the CASE Act in the House. We also thank the original co-sponsors of H.R. 2426, Representatives Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Martha Roby (R-AL), Judy Chu (D-CA), Ben Cline (R-VA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA). And our appreciation extends to all of the members of the committee who supported the bill, and to so many other co-sponsors of this critical legislation.

“We look forward to working with the members of the House and other stakeholders as the CASE Act moves to the House floor and beyond.”

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ABOUT THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE
The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest and educational organization representing the copyright interests of over 1.8 million individual creators and over 13,000 organizations in the United States, across the spectrum of copyright disciplines. The Copyright Alliance is dedicated to advocating policies that promote and preserve the value of copyright, and to protecting the rights of creators and innovators. For more information, please visit www.copyrightalliance.org.