On January 14, I received an e-mail inviting me to submit my thoughts and ideas directly to our newly elected President.
The cynic in me, especially when considering our government, thought “why waste my time” however it felt encouraging that this was an opportunity for everyday people, not just high powered lobbyists, to communicate with our government. The cynic in me was overruled by the optimist in me; I felt I needed to respond.
Below you’ll find the e-mail I received; below that you’ll find my entry.
Here’s the link where you’ll find my entry into Citizen’s Briefing Book regarding The Orphan Works Bill and where you can vote it up or down to prioritize it as an issue.
We finally have a venue to share our thoughts and ideas with the President. I hope you’ll take part in voicing your opinion on this issue, or any issue that you feel needs to bee addressed.
“Dear Sam,
We wanted to tell you about a new feature on Change.gov which lets you bring your ideas directly to the President.
It’s called the Citizen’s Briefing Book, and it’s an online forum where you can share your ideas, and rate or offer comments on the ideas of others.
The best-rated ones will rise to the top, and after the Inauguration, we’ll print them out and gather them into a binder like the ones the President receives every day from experts and advisors. If you participate, your idea could be included in the Citizen’s Briefing Book to be delivered to President Obama.
Visit the Citizen’s Briefing Book now and share your ideas:
Throughout this Transition, a truly inspiring number of citizens have gotten involved. We hope that you remain involved through the Inauguration and beyond.
Thank you,
Valerie
Valerie Jarrett
Co-Chair
Obama-Biden Transition Project
Please note that replies to this email will not be answered.”
My entry into the Citizen’s Briefing Book follows:
(The only thing missing in my entry into Citizen’s Briefing Book are the links that are available in this post)
Although not as high profile as the auto or banking industries, there’s another segment of our economy that is staring down the barrel of economic hardship in the form of a pending bill.
A bill that reflects policies of greed and deception aimed at enriching large, well-heeled, corporate interests while burdening and harming the individual citizen financially.
The Orphan Works Bill that is currently in Congress (
S.2913 and
H.R. 5889) are horrible pieces of legislation that, if passed, would damage the livelihoods of artists.
In brief, in its present form, this bill would make it more burdensome on individual artists while making it easier for someone to infringe on our work. This is an attempt by institutions and commercial interests to appropriate the work of others in the guise of serving the public interest.
As written, the Orphan Works Bill favors the copyright infringer more than the copyright owner by enormously reducing the penalties for infringement. These penalties are a strong deterrent to infringement. If these penalties are removed infringers, especially those with deeper pockets, will infringe more with the knowledge that the artist who owns the copyright to the work is at a financial disadvantage. I have personally experienced this with a former client, if it was not for the strength of the copyright law as it currently exists with its statutory penalties, I would have been damaged to a much grater extent.
The Orphan Works bill would dangerously dilute the strength of the Copyright Law.
If you are not familiar with the Orphan Works Bill please take the time to read about it. It’s a horrible bill that will affect all forms of art, damage small businesses and open the door to cultural theft on an unprecedented scale.
PLEASE STOP IT!!!!
Thank you for your attention to this very important economic issue.
I’ve included links and quotes for your review.
ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP ORPHAN WORKS BLOG
From 8 Controversial Bills That Congress Still May Pass
Rescuing Orphans, Orphaning Artworks
Wikipedia . An orphan work is a copyrighted work where it is difficult or impossible to contact the copyright holder. This situation can arise for many reasons. The author could have never been publicly known because the work was published anonymously or the work may have never been traditionally published at all. The identity of the author could have been once known but the information lost over time. Even if the author is known, it may not be possible to determine who inherited the copyright and presently owns it.
Congress’s Orphans Works Act of 2008, which suddenly burst onto the scene in April, would limit the amount of damages a copyright holder could collect from an infringer of an orphan work if the infringer performed a “diligent search” (see bill text for definition) for the copyright holder before using their work.
Professional artists are outraged that this bill even exists.
“Under this orphan works legislation, nothing you do would be protected. Not a single thing – not a sketch, not a finished picture, not a snapshot, not a home video,” said artist Brad Holland in an interview with Mark Simon of the Illustrators’ Partnership. Holland adds:Suppose you do a sketch – suppose you do a job for a client and send them five sketches. They pick one. You have to register the other four too because there’s no telling that the art director might let the sketch sit in a drawer, somebody else could find it, it doesn’t have a name on it, and suddenly it’s their idea, it’s their sketch. They can use it however they want. That would be the premise of this new orphan works legislation. In effect, it would orphan ever work that you’ve ever done, including work that you’ve registered with the copyright office over the last 30 years.
Larry Lessig came out against the bill in a NYT op-ed, saying it is “unfair because since 1978, the law has told creators that there was nothing they needed to do to protect their copyright.” He also calls it “unwise” and claims it won’t be effective. “The uncertain standard of the bill doesn’t offer any efficient opportunity for libraries or archives to make older works available, because the cost of a “diligent effort” is not going to be cheap,” he says. “The only beneficiaries would be the new class of “diligent effort” searchers who would be a drain on library budgets.
Here’s a quote: “I find this comment from an anonymous Open Congress user especially poignant: “Isn’t it funny how music is getting huge, sledgehammer like protection in HR 4279 and visual art is getting devalued and made worthless by this bill, HR 5889? Music must just be soo much more valuable. It’s all about the corporate interests. Artists need to band together for our own protection and fight this dangerous bill. I’m an art student, and while I will never stop making art I’m worried I’ll be unable to make a living at it. It’s never been easy to be an artist without this kind of stuff coming along and making it impossible for us.”
Brad Holland of the the Illustrators Partnership responds to an interview with Alex Curtis of Public Knowledge.
Read what other citizens are saying about the Orphan Works Bill works bill in the Citizens Briefing Book.
A petition called “A Million People Against the Orphan Works Bill”
Jan 16, 2009 | Categories:Learn Photography | Tags: copyright, copyright infringemnt, copyright issues, economy, H.R. 5889, intellectual property, legislation, Orphan Works, orphan works bill, S.2913, work force | Leave A Comment »
