A Small Claim Shouldn’t Be a Big Job

The Copyright Claims Board will begin receiving claims on June 16, 2022, and we are working to release the RightsClick CCB tool as soon after that date as possible. Our goal is to make it easy for busy creative professionals to file and manage a copyright small claim — or more than one claim — from within the RightsClick suite.

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Basic Facts About the CCB

  • The governing body (court) is the Copyright Claims Board, which is administered by the U.S. Copyright Office under the authority of the Library of Congress.
  • Defendants (called respondents) can opt out of participating in the small-claim adjudication. If they do that is the end of the matter. But the claimant can still file a lawsuit in federal court.
  • Neither claimants nor respondents are required to travel to the CCB to participate.
  • A claimant does not need to hire an attorney but is responsible for complying with the administrative rules. This will include serving notice to the respondent (see below).
  • The respondent may be an individual or a business entity but must be located in the United States.
  • If the infringed work is not already registered, a registration application must be filed prior to submitting the claim. The CCB will effectively pause the proceeding until the registration is approved.
  • The Copyright Office is offering a reduced fee of $50 for expedited registration, if requested for the purpose of a CCB claim.
  • The maximum damage award for a single case is $30,000 (see details below).
  • If a claimant loses a case at the CCB, he/she may appeal to the Board but may not retry the same claim through federal litigation.
  • The CCB is a legal proceeding with penalties for perjury, misrepresentation, or abuses of the system.
  • Overall, a DIY claim that proceeds to resolution will cost about $300 in fees, including simultaneous registration of the work at issue.
  • See complete rules at ccb.gov. or more details at Copyright Alliance.

Claim Process Overview

You may file and proceed with a small claim without hiring an attorney by visiting ccb.gov. But you can also use the RightsClick software to help prepare your claim as soon as the CCB tool is activated. It designed to make preparing and submitting a claim easier and to help you keep track of the steps and deadlines along the way. You will even be able to serve process from within RightsClick.

  1. As a RightsClick customer, you identify the Title in your portfolio, which has been infringed and run an Infringement Assessment (see instruction videos). This captures and organizes most of the information needed to file a CCB claim.
  2. Next using the CCB tool, you select the Assessment you created, answer a few more questions specific to the small claim process, click submit, and pay the initial filing fees.
  3. Initial Filing: $40 CCB filing fee plus a $25 RightsClick fee for processing. If the respondent does not opt out and the case proceeds, the CCB requires another fee of $60 to proceed with the adjudication of your case.
  4. Once the CCB clears your claim for service, they will email you documents to serve upon the respondent. You have 90 days from the receipt of these documents to show proof of service to the CCB. (See links below regarding certain service options and limitations).
  5. You will be able serve notice on the respondent from within the RightsClick CCB tool. The average server fee is $80-120 depending on location of respondent. (Expedited and other services available for higher fees).
  6. Once you receive proof of service, you must submit this to the CCB within one week.
  7. The respondent has up to 60 days to opt out, otherwise the case will proceed and both you and the respondent will need to take further action, including providing other materials (e.g.  evidence) as requested by the CCB. If the respondent neither opts out nor responds, the case may proceed.
  8. See video webinar answering many questions about the CCB.
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Serving Process

As with any other type of lawsuit, you as the claimant are required to have physical documents handed to the respondent notifying them of your complaint filed with the CCB. The rules governing service of process vary throughout the country.

RightsClick is collaborating with a national process server to integrate their application into our system for our customers’ convenience. This process server’s success rate is 92% with most respondents served within 3-5 days.

Some respondents may waive service of process or designate service agents for CCB claims. You can search the agent database here. Also see blanket opt out list only available to libraries.

Damage Awards

  • $15,000 per work infringed with a total $30,000 maximum for a single case, if the infringed work(s) was/were timely registered.
  • $7,500 per work infringed, with a total $15,000 maximum for the case, if the infringed work was not timely registered.  
  • You will be asked when you file a complaint whether you are asking for an amount of $5,000 or less. If so, you can choose a simpler and faster process.

The amount of damages available in a case depends on when the work was registered with the Copyright Office. A work is “timely registered” if it was registered with the Copyright Office either:

  1. Within three months of date it was first published, OR
  2. Prior to the date the allegedly infringing use started.

The effective date of registration is the date the application was submitted, which may be several weeks or months prior to the receipt of a certificate and registration number.