Copyright and Fair Use / Copyright Claims Board

In December 2020, Congress passed the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act of 2020 (CASE Act), which empowered the U.S. Copyright Office to create the Copyright Claims Board (CCB). The CCB is a non-judicial body of the Copyright Office that is charged with deciding copyright infringement actions that do not exceed $30,000 in damages. 

The CCB is an alternative to federal court proceedings; however, certain entities are exempt from proceedings before the CCB (e.g., state or governmental entities, students and employees of state and governmental entities provided that the claim involves work done in the course of their employment). Libraries and archives that may be subject to claims filed with the CCB have an opportunity to opt out of all CCB proceedings preemptively or upon receipt of a claim, and thereby force a copyright owner to file/re-file the action in federal court.

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES:

Library employee acting within scope of employment: Posting copyrighted content into a course management system at request of faculty.

Institutional employee acting out of scope of employment:  Faculty member uploading copyrighted content to a personal website.

Students (employee but not acting in scope of employment): Graduate student is employed as a teaching assistant in field of study but the claim is about inclusion of copyrighted content in their dissertation.

• Copyright Claims Board FAQ - https://ccb.gov/faq/
• List of Libraries and Archives that have Opted Out - https://ccb.gov/libraries-archives-opt-out/
• CCB Opt-Out Form for Libraries and Archives - https://ccb.gov/libraries-archives-opt-out/images/opt-out-form.pdf
• ARL Case Act Toolkit - https://www.arl.org/case-act-toolkit/
• UC Berkeley Small Claims Resource - https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/research/scholarly-communication/copyright?section=small-claims

This section of Cook Library's Copyright and Fair Use LibGuide is derived in part from ARL's CASE Act Toolkit and from information compiled by the scholarly communication team at the University of California Berkeley Library.

The content of this and all sections of this Guide are for information purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. Libraries and other institutions are encouraged to consult with their local general counsel for advice and guidance on not just proceedings before the CCB but all other legal matters.