Congress passed an act on Monday as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021 that included the COVID-19 relief bill, expected to signed by President Trump, which will establish a voluntary dispute resolution process in the Copyright Office for infringement claims not exceeding $30,000. The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (the CASE Act) requires the Copyright Office to establish a Copyright Claims Board (the Board) to provide dispute resolution processes for parties involved in small copyright infringement claims.

Cases would be decided by a three-judge panel of copyright claims officers where damages would be capped at $15,000 per claim and $30,000 total. There is an opt-out procedure for defendants, but if the parties agree to this process, they forgo the right to be heard before a court and the right to a jury trial. The parties also will bear their own attorneys’ fees in the proceeding, except in the case of bad-faith conduct of a party.