SAY NO to the ORPHAN WORKS BILL!!!
posted by Nicholas Wright
Hi
all- please give me 5 minutes of your time. I never ask for much but
I'm asking you all to help me as a professional illustrator and Emily
as a professional graphic designer, we both also have other
professional artists in our families, help protect our careers.
please
forward this to everyone you know if you support artists making a
living from their artwork. BUT YOU NEED TO ALSO TAKE ACTION BY SPENDING
30 sec. at the link below....
********* THE ORPHAN WORKS******** legislation that is being reviewed in the U.S. .....
As artists we DO NOT support this bill- it will take away our livelihoods !!!!! PASS THIS EMAIL ON and take action now.
keep
reading but writing the people who represent you is very quick at this
link, it does all the work for you..... 30 seconds max.
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
the following is just a small part of the bigger issue with this legislation.
This
bill currently going through the U.S. house and senate WILL affect
photographers, graphic artists, designers, illustrators, anyone who
makes images in the USA....
In the most basic terms should this
bill get passed the visual artist community stands to lose our incomes
from creating imagery.
This is not something to take lightly, simply
put (using myself as an example)- this bill in essence will take away
the ownership that I have of any images I create. Anyone who comes
across an image I created and wants to use it, after a "legitimate
search documented" may do so without any criminal offense as punishment
after they do a quick search to "try" to get in touch with me. If they
have no luck- meaning "oh I tried but did not get an answer." can use
my image!!!!
UNLESS OF COURSE I BUY A MEMBERSHIP IN A
PRIVATELY HELD REGISTRY. YES THAT'S RIGHT I CAN GET COVERED BY PAYING
TO HAVE MY ARTWORK IN A PRIVATE DATABASE THAT "WOULD--BE USERS" COULD
SEARCH. IN ESSENCE WHAT IS CURRENTLY PROTECTED UNDER COPYRIGHT LAW FREE
OF CHARGE TO ME WOULD ONLY BE PROTECTED IF I BOUGHT A MEMBERSHIP TO A
PRIVATE CORPORATE DATABASE TO REGISTER EVERY PIECE OF ARTWORK I'VE EVER
CREATED.
It get's much more complicated but this is the basic idea.
Currently any images I create are copyright protected and to use any without my permission is against the law. IT will not be against the law if this bill gets passed. PEOPLE THIS IS OUR LIFE. THIS IS OUR JOBS, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
PLEASE do not ignore this email... read below... and go here to send a message to your reps...
it takes 30 seconds and the database does all the work for you.
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
Thanks,
Nick Wright
more below
Orphan Works: Behind the Talking Points
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
Backers of the Orphan Works bill are circulating their Talking Points:
“Neither the House nor the Senate drafts of the bill contain the word “registries,” [they write] but rather they require users to search non-governmental databases of copyrighted works. The purpose of any database is not meant to take the place of copyright registration, but to have a way to search for visual images. Any participation in such a database would be voluntary.”
But this doesn’t mean what it appears to say. Take it point by point:
Talking Point #1: “Neither the House nor the Senate drafts of the bill contain the word ‘registries.’ ”
Response: Correct. They contain the word “databases,” a synonym:
Registry: register: an official written record of names or events or transactions
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Database: A database is a structured collection of records or data
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
Q: Why a synonym?
A:
Because international copyright law forbids member countries to impose
registries as a condition of protecting copyrights: Berne/Article 5(2)
”The enjoyment and the exercise of these rights shall not be subject to
any formality.” http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/5.html
In other words, if they used the word “registries” in the bills, it would be a red flag to other countries that the US is flirting with non-compliance with international treaties.
Talking Point #2: “...rather they [the bills] require users to search non-governmental databases of copyrighted works.”
Response: Non-governmental databases” means databases maintained in the private sector.
For users to find your work in these commercial databases, your work would first have to be in the database.
Work not in the database would be orphaned.
Talking Point #3: “Any participation in such a database would be voluntary.”
Response: Congress cannot pass a bill making registration mandatory because that would violate Berne/Article 5(2).
And that would state explicitly to other countries that the US no longer intends to honor its international agreements.
There are red flags all over these talking points.
Summing up: The Orphan Work bills would mandate the creation of registries by commercial interests.
You would not be legally forced to place your work with these for-profit registries.
But failure to do so would orphan your work.
The deceptive talking points accompanying this bill are another red flag.
— Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership
Take Action/ Write Congress
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
Over 37,000 messages have been sent from the site in the last 48 hours. Please spread the word.
Please forward or post this announcement in its entirety to any interested party.
posted by Nicholas Wright @ 9:46 AM
In my most recent post about the proposed orphan works bill, I promised that I would draft a letter to 
