Re:Create Statement on The CASE Act

WASHINGTON—Following today’s disappointing passage of the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act of 2019 by the House of Representatives, the Re:Create Coalition issued the following statement from Executive Director Joshua Lamel:

“The CASE Act will expose ordinary Americans to tens of thousands of dollars in damages for things most of us do everyday. We are extremely disappointed that Congress passed the CASE Act as currently written, and we hope that the Senate will do its due diligence to make much-needed amendments to this bill to protect American consumers and remove any constitutional concerns.

“Under the CASE Act, Families, nonprofits, small businesses and more will be coerced into settlements or unwittingly wake up with $30,000 in statutory damages — all because they posted a picture or a meme to social media and lack the knowledge of complex copyright law needed to defend themselves.

“The CASE Act will not only be disastrous for Americans’ wallets, but the bill is pretty clearly unconstitutional. Its failure to grant the right to a trial by jury fails 50 years of Supreme Court jurisprudence making it clear that copyright, and the award of statutory damages in copyright, have their basis in the common law and are subject to the 7th amendment.  Since it is an action between private parties, this must occur in an Article III tribunal.”

“It’s crucial that the Senate go back to the drawing board and address easy fixes to make the legislation constitutional and to protect Americans from being exploited by copyright trolls.”

Click here for more on why Re:Create members and others are opposed to the CASE Act.