CLAUDINE HELLMUTH
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orphan works bill
There is much hub-bub about this Orphan Works Bill that is making it's way through the House and Senate. It was shot down once before because of action against it --- but now it's back as bill numbers H.R. 5889 The Orphan Works Act of 2008 and S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008

If passed it will do major damage to all of us artists, authors, illustrators, designers and photographers. Even those of us who merely post our photos on Flickr, will not be able to protect them from those who want to use them without compensation or credit.

It is scary stuff people! I have already contacted my Senators and FL Representative. And signed this petition against the bill.

Here's more information from the Society of Illustrators:

Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work
An open forum to oppose the Orphan Works Act of 2008
Tuesday, May 6 6:00 PM
The Society of Illustrators
128 East 63rd Street
New York, NY 10065
Admission will be free
LIVE Web cast!

The Orphan Works Act of 2008 will endanger the rights of anyone who creates intellectual property.

It will expose your art to commercial infringement. It will include work from professional paintings to family snapshots. It will include published and unpublished work. It will include any image that resides or has ever resided on the internet. It will force you to register every picture you do with privately-held commercial registries. It will make all unregistered works potential orphans.

This radical change to U.S. copyright law will shift the burden of diligence from infringer's to rights holders. It is wrong to give infringer's the right to make money from your property without your knowledge or consent. You should not have to pay businessmen to keep the work you’ve created.

The Orphan Works Act is an assault on national and international copyright laws. It’s an assault on the property and privacy rights embodied in them.

Illustrators, photographers, fine artists: let’s come together and act to keep Congress from orphaning our work.

To learn more about the Orphan Works Bill, listen to this interview with Brad Holland

Then sign this petition!

More info at the Society of Illustrators.

A list of your Senators and Representatives to contact. Here's a link to sample letters to adjust and send.
Thank you!
COMMENTS:
Hey Claudine,

I got a bunch of emails about this a couple of weeks ago. It turns out the Mark Simon/Brad Holland angles may be a little alarmist. Check out this article:

http://maradydd.livejournal.com/374886.html

Tamara
 
Tamara

yeah I have heard that. Personally I am erring on the side of caution and opposing this bill.
 
Thanks Claudine! I sent one of the letters to the Alaska Senators.
 
I am on the artist's side. I signed the petition. Thanks for spreading the word. I had not heard of this before.
 
Thanks for posting Claudine.
NIce to meet you....We have some mutual industry friends. You have a great blog and do wonderful work!

I also posted about this on my blog.
Please note the new website that was created
to make it easy to take action:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
another petition to sign (over 10,000 signatures) .....
http://www.petitiononline.com/dAvsOW/
Thanks again!!!!
Sue Zipkin
 
Hi Claudine,
I signed the petition. Wow, it scares me to think that this could pass. I'm not an artist and I'm still ticked off about it!
 
Neil Gaiman covered this a while ago, I see you got one of the links hes got from Tamara above here. Here's his post: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/orphan%20works

Either way, I guess you cant be too careful.
 
I'll head over there after I run through the rest of your blog. You're right -- artists and illustrators have enough trouble without that!
 
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