Defending Small Businesses Against Image Copyright Demand Letters and Copyright Claims Board Actions

Melissa M. Eckhause, Co-Director, Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic and Associate Professor of Law | University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

Professor Eckhause studies the intersection of technology, intellectual property law, and art, with particular attention to how visual artists, musicians, and other creators fare in the digital age. Her scholarship speaks directly to this program: she has published an empirical study of copyright infringement lawsuits involving photography and a leading article examining how the Copyright Claims Board serves self-represented litigants. Before entering academia, she spent more than a decade practicing, representing music and film producers, Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, entertainment professionals, and professional athletes.

• Education & Credentials

She holds an LL.M. from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, a J.D. from the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, and a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin.

• Recognition & Leadership

She founded Detroit Mercy Law’s Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic in 2022 and now serves as its Co-Director. She was promoted to Associate Professor of Law in 2025, having joined the faculty in 2020 as a Visiting Professor and been promoted to Assistant Professor in 2022. She previously taught at the University of Southern California, Golden Gate University School of Law, and Texas A&M University School of Law.

• Professional Involvement

She is a frequent speaker on the Copyright Claims Board and copyright enforcement, including “Copyright Trolling and the Copyright Claims Board” for the Federal Bar Association Eastern District of Michigan (2024), a Copyright Claims Board roundtable for The Copyright Society (2023), and “The Copyright Claims Board and the Fears of Copyright Trolling” for U.S. Inventors (2024). She has presented at the Intellectual Property Scholars Conference at Berkeley (2024), the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia Law School Copyright Scholarship Roundtable (2024), and the Duke Law School and Northwestern Pritzker School of Law Workshop on Empirical Methods in Intellectual Property (2023).

• Experience

Her publications include “Closed Doors to Justice: How the Copyright Claims Board is Shuttering Out Pro Se Litigants” (Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal, 2025), “Fighting Image Piracy or Copyright Trolling? An Empirical Study of Photography Copyright Infringement Lawsuits” (Albany Law Review, 2022), a contributed “Copyright Troll” entry in the Elgar Encyclopedia of Intellectual Property Law (2023), and an article on digital sampling and fair use in the Missouri Law Review (2019). She teaches Copyright Law, Entertainment Law, Trademark Law, First Amendment, and the Arts & Entertainment Law Clinic.

Darin Klemchuk, Founder & CEO | Klemchuk PLLC

Darin Klemchuk is a Dallas-based intellectual property attorney whose practice centers on IP litigation, patents, trademarks, copyrights, and anti-counterfeiting strategy. He has handled more than 500 intellectual property disputes, including over 40 patent infringement cases and hundreds of IP enforcement actions, and he regularly represents both plaintiffs and defendants — from Fortune 500 corporations to startups with disruptive technologies. His work also spans commercial and business litigation, injunctive relief battles involving trade secrets and non-competes, and software-driven IP enforcement programs built for luxury brands, consumer products manufacturers, online service providers, and software publishers.

• Education & Credentials

He earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1997 and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington in 1990. He is admitted to practice in the State of Texas (1997), before the United States Patent and Trademark Office (2001), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals (2002), and the Northern, Eastern, Western, and Southern District of Texas federal courts.

• Recognition & Leadership

He has been named among “Best Lawyers – Intellectual Property” by D Magazine from 2006 through 2026 and was included on D Magazine’s inaugural Hall of Fame “Best Lawyers” list in 2022. He has been recognized as a “Super Lawyer” by Thomson Reuters from 2008 through 2025 and as a “Top Rated Lawyer in Intellectual Property Law” by American Lawyer Media in 2013. Under his leadership, his firm was named among the Dallas Business Journal’s “Best Places to Work” in 2010 and 2011.

• Professional Involvement

He serves as a Master of the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn American Inn of Court (Intellectual Property), a role he has held since 2012, and has been a member of Business Executives for National Security since 2018, the Internet Law Leadership Summit since 2011, and Vistage since 2014. His speaking engagements include State Bar of Texas presentations on secondary trademark liability and brand enforcement on social networking sites, along with published guidance on structuring effective IP enforcement programs.

• Experience

He founded Klemchuk PLLC in 2009 and leads the firm as CEO. He was previously a Partner at Cash Klemchuk Powers Taylor LLP from 2004 to 2009 and an Associate at Thompson & Knight LLP from 1997 to 2004. Before law, he worked as a Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company and served as a Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army National Guard’s 161st Infantry Regiment, earning an honorable discharge. He also serves companies without in-house counsel such as Virtual General Counsel and Virtual IP Counsel, and acts as Texas local counsel in patent, trademark, copyright, and commercial litigation.

SESSION 1 – Answering the Image Copyright Demand Letter: Verification, Exposure Analysis, and Settlement | 12:00pm – 1:00pm

This session equips attorneys to respond strategically to image copyright demand letters on behalf of small business clients — covering how to verify registration timing and ownership, how to calculate real damages exposure under 17 U.S.C. §§ 412 and 504(c), and how to negotiate settlements grounded in actual market value rather than inflated statutory threats. Attorneys will leave with a step-by-step framework for evaluating any demand letter, identifying whether the sender is a serial litigant, and positioning the client for the most cost-effective resolution. The session draws on recent trial outcomes — including the March 2026 Prepared Food Photos v. Jaber verdict — to show how courts and juries value single-image uses by small businesses.

BREAK | 1:00pm – 1:10pm

SESSION 2 – Defending a Copyright Claims Board Proceeding from Notice Through Resolution | 1:10pm – 2:10pm

This session walks defense counsel through every stage of a Copyright Claims Board proceeding—from evaluating the opt-out decision at notice through discovery, written submissions, and final determination. Attorneys will learn how CCB procedural structure, damage caps, and discovery limitations create strategic advantages for small business respondents that federal court cannot replicate. Attendees will leave with a working framework for assessing opt-out risk, avoiding default, deploying available defenses, and leveraging settlement and enforcement gaps to achieve favorable outcomes.