Larry Colen wrote: >http://www.copyright.gov/docs/smallclaims/ > >The Copyright Act protects a wide variety of works of authorship, from >individual articles or photographs that may not have a high commercial value >to motion pictures worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the marketplace. >The copyright owners of all of these works can use copyright law to pursue >certain unauthorized uses. Not all of these copyright owners, however, have >the same resources to bring a federal lawsuit, which can require substantial >time, money, and effort. Moreover, while a copyright owner may want to stop an >infringement that caused a relatively small amount of economic damage, that >owner may be dissuaded from filing a lawsuit because a potentially small award >may not justify the potentially large expense of litigation. While the Act >offers the possibility of statutory damages and attorney fees, these benefits >are not available in all cases and parties cannot recover them until after the >copyright owner has engaged in a potentially long court battle that requires up > front costs. > >The Copyright Office has been asked by Congress to study the obstacles facing >small copyright claims disputes, as well as possible alternatives. >Specifically, the Office is to undertake a study to: (1) assess the extent to >which authors and other copyright owners are effectively prevented from >seeking relief from infringements due to constraints in the current system; >and (2) furnish specific recommendations, as appropriate, for changes in >administrative, regulatory and statutory authority that will improve the >adjudication of small copyright claims and thereby enable all copyright owners >to more fully realize the promise of exclusive rights enshrined in our >Constitution. The initial notice of inquiry seeks comment on how copyright >owners have handled small copyright claims and the obstacles they have >encountered, as well as potential alternatives to the current legal system >that could better accommodate such claims.
Excellent. And long overdue. At the present time the only way to file a copyright suit is through Federal District Court. Slow and expensive (~$10,000). Not worth the time or money for many claims. Something more accessible is needed. -- Mark Roberts - Photography & Multimedia www.robertstech.com -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
