Small Copyright Claims: Challenges & Proposals

The Constitution empowers, and the Copyright Act conveys, a system of exclusive rights for authors, for the benefit of their livelihoods, the livelihoods of other actors in the chain of commerce, and the overall public good. To protect and promote these rights, the law has always included a corresponding set of enforcement provisions allowing copyright owners to redress the unauthorized use of their works. While infringement is nothing new when it comes to the world of creative works, there is no question that it has proliferated with the ascendance of digital culture and the unprecedented desire for content. Today it is not only easy to make unauthorized copies, but to do so at virtually no cost, much to the detriment of authors and the market for their works. This book discusses the remedies for small copyright claims provided by the Graphic Artists Guild, the Association of American Publishers, and American photographic artists.