The True Cost of Filing with Copyright Claims Board

The Copyright Claims Board (CCB) is the new copyright small claims court in the United States. Passed into law in 2020 and opening its doors in June 2022, it promises a simple and affordable way to address copyright claims. 

To that end, the CCB upholds many of its promises. There is not much doubt that it is far simpler and far less expensive than a regular copyright infringement lawsuit. 

When a regular copyright infringement case can take years to resolve and run in the tens of thousands of dollars to litigate, even if it is resolved quickly, the CCB provides a faster and cheaper alternative, with the trade-off of reduced damages.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean pursuing a case through the CCB is cheap. There are still costs involved, and those costs go beyond the fees that the CCB itself charges. 

So, before you file a case with the CCB, you need to make sure that you’re prepared for the actual costs in doing so. While they may be far cheaper than a regular lawsuit, there are many for whom the fees may still be too much to justify.

The Copyright Claims Board Fees

Filing a claim with the Copyright Claims Board costs just $40 initially. This covers the initial filing and evaluation of the case. If the case is ruled to be compliant, you will be directed to then serve the respondents with proper notice, and they will have a chance to opt out. If they fail to opt out, you’ll be required to pay an additional $60 in fees should the case go before the board. 

Note: The Copyright Alliance offers a SCOOP program to help claimants recoup their $40 filing fee if the other respondent opts out.  

In addition to the filing fees, if you require an expedited registration of your work, that is another $50 fee for each work involved. 

This means that, in CCB fees alone, you will be charged $100 for the whole of the case and another $50 per work if you need to file an expedited registration in the case. In most cases, there should not be more than two works involved, so this means that, for most, the CCB fees should be between $100 and $200 for the case.

Additional Fees

However, it isn’t just CCB fees that one has to consider. 

Every respondent in your CCB case needs to be served with the appropriate paperwork. Though processes server rates vary from location to location, a good starting number is $100 per respondent, as it is on the higher end of the price spectrum. If there are multiple respondents, this could easily be more expensive than the CCB fees themselves.

Since the fees vary so greatly, the best approach here is to anticipate these fees and determine what they likely will be before filing the case. Factor those costs in before filing a case. 

Additionally, there’s the consideration of outside help. Though the CCB is meant to be approachable by laypeople and the CCB offers help with finding pro bono assistance, you may still want a lawyer to assist with your case. 

Though the number of hours required to file a CCB case are lower than a regular court case, you’re still looking at, most likely, hundreds of dollars per hour over several hours. According to ContractsCounsel’s marketplace data, the average hourly rate for a lawyer in the United States is $275. This means that, if a lawyer charging that rate works for four hours on a CCB case, there’s an additional $1,100 fee to consider.

However, much like the process server fees, these numbers vary wildly from place to place and attorney to attorney. Furthermore, you may be able to work out another arrangement with an attorney such as a contingency fee, where they are paid a percentage of winnings or settlement, or a flat rate depending on the situation.

As such, if you’re going to seek out the aid of an attorney, it’s once again best to get a handle on the fees before filing the case. 

Bottom Line

What all this means is that the true cost of the CCB will be wildly different from person to person and case to case.

A person who represents themselves, has only one respondent, doesn’t require any new registrations and can find lower process server rates can come in well under $200 in total costs.

However, those that require multiple registrations, have multiple respondents, choose to use a lawyer and have more expensive process service could easily spend $1,000 – $2,000 on the case.

To be clear, even the most expensive CCB case is far less expensive than the quickest and easiest regular copyright case. However, it’s still important to consider all these factors, especially since, with the CCB, the respondent has the ability to opt out.

In the end, the goal here is not to dissuade the use of the CCB, it is to make sure that those looking to file understand what they are committing to, both in terms of time and money. 

The CCB goes to great lengths to remove the barriers that many faced in filing copyright infringement lawsuits. However, there are still barriers that have to be crossed and, for some, those barriers may be prohibitive.

If that’s the case, it’s best to know before you file rather than after.