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Authors Guild members with other creators at the Senate Judiciary Committee Counsel Roundtable to discuss the CASE Act

As part of the Guild’s lobbying efforts for the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (“CASE”) Act of 2019, Executive Director Mary Rasenberger, Guild President Doug Preston, Authors Guild Foundation President Laura Pedersen, and Council Member W. Ralph Eubanks met with several dozen members of Congress and staffers. They were part of a creator “fly-in” on July 18, in which members of a variety of creative organizations went to Washington, D.C., to lobby collectively. The bill, which would create an administrative tribunal with the Copyright Office to handle small copyright infringement cases, currently has 62 co-sponsors in the House and 14 in the Senate, including original Senate co-sponsors Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

Doug Preston, Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Rick Carnes, President, The Songwriters Guild of America, Mary Rasenberger, Charlie Sanders, General Counsel, The Songwriters Guild of America

Rasenberger and the other Guild representatives attended the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s markup of the CASE Act on July 18, where the Committee held a voice vote approving the bill without any opposition. While this first step is a great one and there is a lot of excitement and momentum for the bill on the Hill, there is still a lot of work to be done. Now that the bill is starting to move, the tech sector is coming forward with its expected opposition; organizations funded by major internet platforms are engaging in a campaign of misinformation and scare tactics, flatly misstating the proposed law. The Guild, along with other creator groups is combating these tactics with facts, and we will be reaching out to you on a state-by-state basis to help bring on board the Representatives and Senators who have not yet come out in support of the bill.