Orphan Works - Send Letters & Faxes by Debra Weiss
YOU SHOULD STILL BE SENDING LETTERS AND FAXES
H.R. 5889 The Orphan Works Act of 2008 is already on its way to the
House. Markup of S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 has
been put off until Thursday, so you have time to write your senators
and congressmen. Please visit <a href="http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/" target="_blank">http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/</a>
and scroll down until you see “For Photogaphers”. Real letters and
faxes are more effective than e-mail. Keep sending letters. Those at
capwiz are very well written. You will not have to do anything except
print it out and put it in a fax machine. If that’s too much work, all
you will have to do is type your name and send an e-mail.
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is the bill’s sponsor. The fax # is
202.224.9516. Other members of the Judiciary Committees are Sen. Orrin
Hatch (R-Utah), and in the House - Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), Rep.
Lamar SMith (R-Texas). The bill is also co-sponsored in the House by
Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) and Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC).
To contact your Congressman visit <a href="https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml" target="_blank">https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml</a>
To contact your Senators visit
<a href="http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm" target="_blank">http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm</a>
For family, friends and anyone else, please forward this link
<a href="http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11333001" target="_blank">http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11333001</a>
This is a letter for the general picture taking public. The general
public is at even greater risk as there is almost no knowledge of
copyright. Is every grandmother going to register every picture of
their grandaughter that they are sharing on a family site? Yet, there
are some great amateur photos out there and I could come up with some
pretty horrible scenarios as to what can happen.
This is not fear mongering. These are bad bills that should never
have gotten as far as they have and will have a huge impact on your
futures.
Please take action. This is an election year and you have more
power than you think. Come on, exercising your power as a member of the
voting public whose votes these people are dependent upon can be very
rewarding. Believe me, I've been there, done that.
Debra Weiss
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