Legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives – HR 3945 – that would increase protections for copyright holders – and especially help artists to file lawsuits when their rights have been violated.

Currently, the only option to enforce your copyrights is to sue the violators in federal court. This is cost prohibitive, especially for individual artists or small businesses. Most artists have no choice but to do nothing when their rights are violated.

The Case Act of 2017 would create a small claims provision for copyright infringement. But the most important thing about this bill is that its an opportunity to talk about the protections artists need.

US Copyright laws are flawed — and we’re doing something about it!
US Copyright Reform is fighting for the rights of all artists.

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The Case Act of 2017 would create a small claims provision for copyright infringement. But the most important thing about this bill is that its an opportunity to talk about the protections artists need.

Read the bill.

Committees:	House – Judiciary
Latest Action:	House – 10/04/2017 Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Sponsor:

Rep. Jeffries, Hakeem S. [D-NY-8]

Co-Sponsors:

Rep. Marino, Tom [R-PA-10]*

Rep. Collins, Doug [R-GA-9]*

Rep. Smith, Lamar [R-TX-21]*

Rep. Chu, Judy [D-CA-27]*

Rep. Lieu, Ted [D-CA-33]*

Rep. Nadler, Jerrold [D-NY-10]

Rep. Cicilline, David N. [D-RI-1]

Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]

Rep. Cramer, Kevin [R-ND-At Large]

Rep. Deutch, Theodore E. [D-FL-22]

Rep. Napolitano, Grace F. [D-CA-32]

Rep. Poliquin, Bruce [R-ME-2]

Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. [D-OR-4]

Rep. Moore, Gwen [D-WI-4]

 

Understanding how to protect your rights as an artist is very important, but many artists don’t know the simple steps they need to take to make sure the law protects them to the fullest extent.

Elizabeth Putsche is represented by Kathryn Goldman of Goldman & Minton. Goldman is the founder of the Creative Law Center which has a multitude of free resources for artists to better understand how to protect their rights.