__________________________________________________________________ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.uky.edu/archives/arlis-l.html Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask]Very important petition to protect artists' copyrights:http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/no-to-orphan-works-act.html
More Info:Under current copyright law, in effect for the last 30 years, yourvisual art is copy protected whether or not it is registered or carriesthe copyright symbol.This week, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to introducethe Orphan Works Act of 2008. If you care about protecting your work,you're against it. It will have the effect of wiping out any copyrighton visual art now in existence, throwing your work into the publicdomain. If you wish to protect your work (each and every separate piece)you will have to digitize it and register it with private sectorregistries as yet uncreated, for a fee as yet unestablished. I sayregistries because this bill places no limit on how many separateregistries there could be.It gets worse. Anyone can submit images, including your images. Theywould then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known asTHEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within acertain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.That means you will also have to look through every image in everyregistry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing andregistering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your ownartwork or photo if someone else registers it.Please read more in this excerpt from illustratorspartnership.org ; Iknow it's long, but it's worth reading. Also, note that while theirsite is geared to illustrators, everything they say applies as well tophotographers, musicians, filmakers, painters, writers, etc:Since the last bill died in committee in 2006, the advocates of thislegislation have promoted the creation of private commercial registries.On January 29, 2007, a lead attorney for the Copyright Office warned usthat under their plan any work not registered with a private sectorregistry would be a potential orphan from the moment it was created.This means you would not only have to register your published work, butalso:— Every sketch or note on every page of every sketchbook;— Every sketch you send to every client;— Every photograph you take anywhere, anytime, including family photos,home videos, etc.;— Every letter, email, etc., professional, personal or private.This Would End Passive Copyright Protection: Under existing law thetotal creative output of any 'creator' receives passive copyrightprotection from the moment you create it. This covers everything fromthe published work of professional artists to the unpublished diaries,letters and family photos of the average citizen.But under the Orphan Works proposal, none of this material would becovered unless the creator took active steps to register and maintaincoverage with a commercial registry. Failure to do so would 'signal' toinfringers that you have no interest in protecting the work.The Registration Paradox:By conceding that their proposals would make potential orphans of anyunregistered works, the Copyright Office proposals would lead to aregistration paradox: In order to 'protect' work from exposure toinfringement, creators would have to expose it on a publicly searchableregistry. This would:— Expose creative work to plagiarists and derivative abusers;— Expose trade secrets and unused sketches to competitors;— Expose unpublished and private correspondence to the public on theOrwellian premise that you must expose it to 'protect' it.Yet registries will not be able to monitor infringements nor enforcecopyright compliance. Even after you've shelled out 'protection money'to a commercial registry to register hundreds of thousands of works, youstill won't be protected. A registry would do nothing more than give youa piece of paper. You would still have to monitor infringements - whichcan occur anytime anywhere in the world; then embark on an uncertainquest to find the infringer, file a case in Federal court, then provethat the infringer has removed your name or other identifyinginformation from your work. Meanwhile all the infringer will have to dois say there was no such information on the work when he found it andassert an orphan works defense.Coerced registration violates the spirit and letter of internationalcopyright law and copyright-related treaties. And because this billwould effectively eliminate the passive copyright protection affordedpersonal correspondence, family photos, etc. it would tear one moreslender thread of privacy protection from the fabric of fundamentalrights we currently take for granted.We urge Congress to carefully reconsider the unintended consequences ofthis radical copyright proposal.— Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators'PartnershipSo, what to do about this? More from the Illustrators Parnershipwebsite:March 19, 2008We expect a bill to be released after the Easter recess. Sources say itwill be introduced in the House and Senate simultaneously, andfast-tracked for a vote in the House by mid-May. Advocates hope forswift passage before the summer recess.The decision to introduce such a radical bill so late in the session isominous. Because of fall elections, this will be a short Congressionalyear. Any bill not passed by the end of Congress will have tore-introduced in the next Congress. That means the bill's sponsors mustknow they have their ducks lined up.GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LISTTo be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill andwhen to contact your legislators, send an email to[log in to unmask] and ask to be added to the OrphanWorks list. You can also visit the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page forArtists for more information, because I didn't even detail all thedisgusting facets of this shocking legislation:Both House and Senate versions of the Orphan Works Act of 2008 can bedownloaded from the IPA homepage:And... please act!The fastest, easiest thing is to sign a petition here:Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phonenumber, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative,and state legislator. In the meantime, please feel free to forward thisto all the artists you know.