U.S. Copyright Claims Board Offers a Low Cost Path to Enforcement

The U.S. Copyright Claims Board recently went live, offering copyright holders a low cost method of enforcement. The filing fee is $100, an attorney is not required, and the damage award is capped at $30,000. Registered copyright holders may choose to opt out and take the traditional federal suit route for larger damage claims. One of the first proceedings filed involves Paris Hilton who is accused of sharing photos on social media that infringe on the copyright owner’s fairy wing design.

Click here for more information on the U.S. Copyright Claims Board.

Copyright Day 2022 - What works are now in the public domain?

The written works Winnie-the-Pooh and Bambi are now in the public domain.

Click here for a list of this year’s releases.

Weaponizing Copyrights in Cancel Culture

Recently many have been turning to copyrights as a means of punishing or silencing their opponents. In one recent case, a police officer relied on Taylor Swift’s copyright to prevent a private citizen from posting cell phone footage of an unflattering interaction. The officer played Swift’s music on his own phone while being recorded and relied on social media algorithms to recognize the copyright in the work and block the upload. In another case, the owner of a residence that was used as the site of a pornographic film registered a copyright in the home’s decorative accessories. The owner hoped that the use of this residence as a backdrop in the video would constitute copyright infringement. Both cases illustrate the growing trend of asserting copyrights in the background of a larger work to block the actions of others.

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