A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced what they’re calling “a discussion draft” of a new anti-piracy bill, the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors Act of 2025, known as the Block BEARD Act. Inspired by laws in the UK and Australia, Block BEARD proposes to allow federal courts to order ISPs to block foreign piracy websites that violate U.S. copyright law. It would provide copyright owners who have had their property stolen a new form of relief by having the courts interrupt foreign online piracy operations, preventing them from making unauthorized content available to U.S. households. Continue reading Bipartisan ‘Block BEARD’ Anti-Piracy Bill Surfaces in Senate

In July, a bipartisan group from the Senate Judiciary Committee reintroduced the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement (CASE) Act, by which the U.S. Copyright Office will create a three-person Copyright Claims Board that will supervise a ‘small claims-style’ system for damages. The Copyright Alliance and the Graphic Artists Guild approved the move, which allows a copyright owner whose content was used without permission to claim for damages up to $15,000 for each work and $30,000 in total. However, some groups are opposing the Act and question the cost of such an approach. Continue reading CASE Act’s Copyright Enforcement Draws Mixed Response

Blocking piracy sites became controversial in the U.S. with SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), which although it had support of both parties and dozens of government, consumer and union organizations, was seen as a threat to free speech. A second proposal (PIPA) also met fierce resistance, culminating in a widespread service blackout by Google, the English Wikipedia and 7,000 other smaller websites. Both bills were shelved, but now, the issue is being raised in the U.S. due to success in website-blocking in Europe. Continue reading U.S. Rights Groups Propose Website-Blocking to Halt Piracy