The CASE Act authorized a new “small claims court” for copyright owners (called the Copyright Claims Board, or CCB). It is housed in the legislative branch (the Copyright Office). However, the Copyright Office is technically part of the Library of Congress, which itself is part of Congress. This poses separation of power problems. To get around this, the CCB proceedings are nominally “voluntary” to the litigants. Copyright owners can choose federal court if they prefer, and defendants can “opt-out” of a CCB proceeding within 60 days, in which case the copyright owner must sue in federal court if it wants to proceed. Libraries and archives can preemptively opt-out of CCB jurisdiction; all other defendants can opt-out only on a case by case basis.
The CCB will be dominated by claims over alleged online infringement.