Title 37—Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights--Volume 1
PART 233—LIMITATION ON PROCEEDINGS
§ 233.1   General.
This part prescribes rules pertaining to the management of the Copyright Claims Board's (Board's) docket and prevention of abuse of the Board's proceedings.
§ 233.2   Limitation on proceedings.
(a) Maximum number of proceedings. The number of Copyright Claims Board proceedings that may be filed by a claimant and the number of proceedings that may be filed by legal counsel or law firms on behalf of claimants in any 12-month period shall be limited in accordance with this section. A proceeding shall count toward the numerical limitation as soon as it is filed, regardless of how the proceeding is resolved, whether it is found to be noncompliant under § 224.1 or unsuitable under § 224.2 of this subchapter, voluntarily dismissed, or fails to become active due to a respondent's opt-out. Neither amendments to a claim, nor counterclaims filed in response to a claim shall count as additional claims in determining whether the limit has been reached. The following limitations shall apply:
(1) A claimant, including a corporate claimant's parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates, shall file no more than 30 proceedings in any 12-month period.
(2) A sole practitioner or a legal counsel associated with a law firm shall file no more than 40 CCB proceedings on behalf of claimants in any 12-month period.
(3) A law firm shall file no more than 80 CCB proceedings on behalf of claimants in any 12-month period.
(b) Circumvention of limit. If a claimant files a claim in excess of the limitation set forth in paragraph (a)(1) of this section, such claim shall be dismissed without prejudice. If a sole practitioner or legal counsel associated with a law firm files a claim in excess of the limitation set forth in paragraph (a)(2) or (3) of this section, the legal counsel or law firm at issue shall be ordered to withdraw from the proceeding and the Board may stay the proceeding for 60 days, which may be extended for good cause shown, for the claimant to retain new legal counsel. It may be considered bad-faith conduct under § 232.3 for a party to take any action for the sole purpose of avoiding the limitation on the number of proceedings that may be filed as set forth in this section.
(c) Law students, law clinics, and pro bono legal services. The limitations in this section do not apply to law students or a law clinic or pro bono legal services organization with a connection to the participating law student's law school.
(d) District court referrals. In calculating the number of proceedings that have been filed by a claimant, sole practitioner, legal counsel, or a law firm under this section, claims referred by district courts will not be considered.
§ 233.3   Temporary limitations on proceedings.
(a) Moratorium on new claims. If the Board has determined that the number of pending cases before it has overwhelmed the capacity of the Board, the Board may impose a temporary stay on the filing of claims. The Board shall publish an announcement of that determination on its website, stating the effective date of the stay, and the duration of the stay, not to exceed six months.
(b) Exception to moratorium. If a claimant's statute of limitations under 17 U.S.C. 1504(b) is about to expire during the stay issued under paragraph (a) of this section, the claimant may file a claim on or before the statutory deadline accompanied by a declaration under penalty of perjury stating that the statute of limitations will expire during the stay and setting forth facts in support of that conclusion. If the Board determines that the statute of limitations likely will expire during the stay based on the facts set forth in the declaration, the Board shall hold the claim in abeyance and conduct a compliance review following the end of the stay.