Guides · Copyright Claims Board

Filing a CCB claim without a lawyer.

The Copyright Claims Board is a small-claims tribunal inside the U.S. Copyright Office. It decides claims up to $30,000, entirely online, and two-thirds of the people filing do it themselves. Most claims that fail never reach the merits; they fail on paperwork.

Updated October 20, 2026 · Sources: 17 U.S.C. §§1504–1508; 37 C.F.R. §§222.2, 222.5, 222.7; CCB Handbook; CCB Key Statistics through March 2026

The Board’s record so far

Source: CCB Key Statistics, data through March 2026.

Can you file?

• The right kind of claim: infringement, a declaration that you did not infringe, or a knowingly false DMCA takedown or counter-notice (§512(f)).
• A U.S. respondent. The person or business must reside in the United States. Federal and state government entities can’t be named.
• Inside three years of when the claim accrued.
• A registration filed first. You must deliver the application, the copy of the work and the fee to the Copyright Office before (or when) you file. The Board can’t decide the case until the certificate issues.
• Not already in court. A claim a court has decided, or one pending in court without a stay, is out.

What the claim contains

• Your name and mailing address, plus email and phone if you file yourself.
• The respondent’s name and mailing address, and what each respondent did.
• For each work: title, author, registration number and effective date, or the pending application’s service request (SR) number and filing date. Registration numbers are 12 characters, such as VA0002345678.
• The infringing activity: which rights were violated, when it began, whether it is ongoing, where it happened, and a detailed description. The Board warns that a one-line description usually comes back noncompliant.
• The harm and what you ask for. You sign a declaration under penalty of perjury by typing your name.

Step by step

1. File in eCCB at dockets.ccb.gov and pay the first $40 through Pay.gov.
2. Compliance review. A Board attorney checks the claim. If it needs changes you have 30 days to amend, and you get two chances before it is dismissed without prejudice.
3. Serve the respondent. After the Board says to proceed, you have 90 days. Send the Board’s waiver-of-service request (the respondent has 30 days to return it), or have an adult who isn’t a party, usually a process server, deliver the notice and claim. File proof of service within 7 days of serving, and inside the 90 days.
4. The 60-day opt-out. Participation is voluntary. If the respondent opts out, the claim is dismissed without prejudice. What to do then →
5. The active phase. If they stay in, pay the second $60 within 14 days of the Board’s order, then exchange documents and evidence on the Board’s schedule.

What you can win

• Statutory damages up to $15,000 per work registered on time, or $7,500 per work (and $15,000 together) registered late. The Board doesn’t consider willfulness.
• Or actual damages and lost profits, which you must prove.
• No more than $30,000 in total per case. A smaller claim asks for $5,000 or less and is decided by one Copyright Claims Officer.
• Each side normally pays its own costs. Fees of up to $5,000 are possible only for bad-faith conduct.

The average award in the Board’s first three years was about $3,600, as reported from the Copyright Office’s 2026 report. Your license fee is the best anchor: one published decision set damages at three times a $500 fee.

Registry is self-help software, not a law firm. Only attorneys and supervised law students may represent parties before the Board (§1506(d)).