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• Something every artist should know about!
  by Erin Jay

  Congress is likely going to be considering new Orphan Works legislation in the upcoming session...

  Congress is likely going to be considering new Orphan Works legislation in the upcoming session This legislation would require all creative works to be registered, for a fee, with private copyright registration companies. If a work is unregistered or cannot be located with a good faith search, it becomes an ‘orphan work’ and thereby become free for both non-profit and commercial uses. What does this mean for us? Well, if current statements are true and the proposed legislation bears a strong resemblance to the version of the bill put before Congress 2 sessions ago it means that a lot of online artists are going to be boned royally if this passes. Here’s a breakdown of why this legislation, if allowed to go through, is incredibly bad for artists, writers, and musicians, especially those of us who post work online: -It makes no distinction between the work of international artists and the work of American artists. Which means all of you lovely people in Australia and the UK have just lost your copyright in the United States unless you’re willing to pay a fee (and don’t get me started on exchange rates) to at least one, and more likely several, American companies. This is the same reason I detest the current internet gambling laws in the US; American legislation should only affect American citizens. When you start trampling on the intellectual property rights of the citizens of other countries, you are violating international law. And guess what? By allowing American companies to ignore the intellectual property rights of foreign nationals, we allow them to do the same to us under provisions in the international copyright law. -It places an onerous financial obligation on not just working artists, but anyone who shares an image or a piece of writing online. As artists we already have significant expenses related to the creation of our respective works. What this legislation does, in essence, is force artists to pay a fee to a privately owned company for the ‘privilege’ of creating our work and retaining the right to use it as we deem fit. Using myself as an example: Between my fractals, writing, photography, painting, and other pursuits, I create approximately 100 new pieces of art a year. If there is only one registration company, and their fee is a supposedly reasonable $5 per work, that means I’m paying $500 a year to be allowed to retain my copyright. If there are 3 companies, I’ll have to pay $1500. This gets even worse if you consider casual posting. Assume the average family takes 300 photos a year, between birthdays, vacations, and other everyday things. If you don’t register your private family photos with these companies (to the tune of well over $1500), you could find little Jimmy’s birthday photos plastered on a billboard without your consent. Which brings me to my next point… -If your work is deemed to be an orphan work, you have little hope of regaining your copyright or of receiving full compensation for its use. If you take someone to court for improper use of your work, the onus is on you as the creator to prove that the work is yours, and if the courts decide in your favor, there is no allowance in the legislation for the recovery of legal fees. Not only that, but the legislation does not require that a company cease commercial use of your work, even if a court rules in your favor! The only requirement is that the violator of your copyright pays you ‘fair value’ of your work. You lose your right to damages, and you lose your right to tell them to stop. -Anyone can register an image without proof that they actually hold copyright. Which means that Billy Joe Artthief from down the street can register your works and steal your copyright. Once again, if you sue and manage to win your copyright back, you are not entitled to damages. -The technology being proposed for use of enforcement of the law has a woefully high failure rate. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee: “Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success.” Please turn that around, and notice that 1% failure rate. That means for every million works that actually are registered, 10,000 of them are going to not be found in a search and deemed to be an orphan work anyway, in spite of being properly registered. This is just the tip of the iceberg, folks—the problems with this legislation are myriad. But what it all boils down to is that IT IS LEGALIZING THE THEFT OF YOUR WORK! This is the reason why international copyright law expressly forbids coerced registration as a condition of maintaining copyright. So please, if you live in the US, get in contact with your local US representative and let them know why they need to vote against this legislation. It doesn’t need to be as long or as detailed as what I just wrote, but it does need to be heartfelt. Let our government know that we do not want them legalizing the theft of our creations! More links: Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art an editorial about the proposed legislation. Makes many of the same points I just did, plus several more. The ASMP page monitoring the status of the current Orphan Works legislation. The thread in the RedBubble General Discussion Forum Helen Bascom’s journal article with commentary and a sample letter to your legislator EDIT: There are two online petitions now circulating to petition against the Orphan Works legislation. Please click the links below if you wish to sign them. Deviants Against the ‘Orphaned Works’ Bill Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act

• Say "NO!" to the Orphan Works Act
  by bchrisdesigns

  I found out about this ludicrous proposed law on Red Bubble...

  I found out about this ludicrous proposed law on Red Bubble and wanted to let everyone else know what they can do about it! If you have not heard about the Orphan Works Act, then you should research it and speak out before it is too late (especially if you are an artist, writer, and/or musician)! No, this Act is not about displaced children or found animals. It revolves around works of art (including fine art, photography, writing, music, etc.) that are not registered with newly proposed agencies. ANY work not registered would be considered in the public domain. This is a dangerous concept and just goes to show how greedy and capitalistic our society, government, and big businesses have become. According to GoPetition.com: “If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free. In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS!” We would be forced into a world where big business can bully us and use whatever they wanted and not be penalized for it. And, this law not only affects artists, writers, and musicians. It also affect the everyday consumer! If you are planning to get your the photographs of your cousin’s wedding developed at a Wal-Mart or other big box retailer, then you better be prepared to get every image copyrighted or you may just end up seeing them on Wal-Mart’s billboards! Gone would be the days of having rights the minute you create something. Now, if you don’t pay to protect it, then it is like no one created the image and it is up for grabs! Who wants to live in this kind of world other than greedy politicians and businesses? And, it does not surprise me that this has all happened under the Bush administration. Who were the idiots that voted for him and thought he would do us some good? Well, seems like the joke’s on YOU! In an April 10th article in Animation World Magazine, award-winning animation producer/director and speaker, Mark Simon, writes: “It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away. With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense. This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk! If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.” So, what can you do about it? Well educate yourself on the issues, write to your congress men and women, and sign as many petitions as your can. To get your started, check out this petition, which I have already signed: Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act on GoPetition.com Also, be sure to check out these resources for more information: Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act on GoPetition.com Mark Simon’s Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists U.S. Copyright’s Office Orphan Works Page ASMP’s Update on the 2008 Orphan Works Act You can also find more information about the Orphan Works Act on Red Bubble: Helen Bascom’s Protect Your Copyright – URGENT ACTION REQUIRED Erin Jay’s Something every artist should know about! Crockpot’s The Orphan Works Act of 2008 ~ RELEASE WanderingAuthor’s Writers’ Concerns bchrisdesigns’ Say ‘NO!’ to the Orphan Works Act The Red Bubble forum dedicated to this discussion Say No to Orphan Works Thread @ Burst Anime and Manga Mike Cressy’s IMPORTANT! READ AND ACT NOW!!!

• AMERICAN ARTISTS: THIS IS IMPORTANT: ORPHAN WORKS BILL
  by Helena Nelson-Reed

  If you live in the U.S.A.: WRITE Congress to oppose the Orphan Works Bills. Please go here and do the same. It takes two minutes. T…

  If you live in the U.S.A.: WRITE Congress to oppose the Orphan Works Bills. Please go here and do the same. It takes two minutes. This bill is devastating to artists, as it will require all work to be filed (and as a result charged fees) to a central database. Essentially meaning that if the artist doesn’t pay for the copyright fee, then anyone can use your work without the artist getting credit. And someone else will be in charge of releasing your artwork to others for use, taking away the rights and power of artists to control their own creations! It has already been preliminarily passed, please help to prevent this from becoming law! Click on this URL to take action now />http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/utr/2/?a=11980321&i=87372405&c=&u=capwiz.com%2Fillustratorspartnership%2Fhome%2F If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link, / copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.

• USA to Legalize Art Theft
  by Carson Collins

  The current May 17, 2008 U. S. Senate version of the “Orphan Works” legislation is a nightmare for artists. Every country in the world…

  The current May 17, 2008 U. S. Senate version of the “Orphan Works” legislation is a nightmare for artists. Every country in the world currently recognizes an artist’s rights to their own work, with or without a formal copyright; all you need to do in the case of a dispute is prove that you did it first. Leave it to the Legislative Branch of the USA Federal Government to attempt to pass a law requiring an artist to pay a fee to a Corporation in order to own something that already belongs to them! Can you imagine the revenue at $5 a pop? It boggles the mind. King George never had it so good. This is something that every artist in the USA must take action against. Read about it here and here Here’s a draft of a letter concerned artists can send to their U.S. Senators: Dear Senator __, I am one of your constituents, a professional artist. It is crucial to my livelihood that you oppose the “Orphan Works” bill, H.R. 5889, in its current form. If this bill’s current language becomes law, it would permit, and even encourage, wide-scale infringements of my copyrighted artworks while depriving me of many of the protections currently available to me under the Copyright Act, including the right to ask the courts to award statutory damages and attorneys’ fees. In the publication world, the reality is that most artworks will easily become considered orphaned, depriving me of a significant part of my income. I urge you to oppose this bill unless and until it is amended to contain at least the minimum provisions that are critical to protect artists, including but not limited to a notice of use that must be filed before the use is made, upon penalty of losing eligibility to claim orphan work status for failure to file the notice; an archive of the notices, to be maintained by the Copyright Office or an approved third party; and other protections that appear in the current (May 15, 2008) language of H.R. 5889. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can provide you with any additional information. Thank you for your time. I hope that you will take the necessary actions to protect my interests and prevent the passage of this bill until it is amended to be fair and reasonable to all parties. Respectfully yours, / ____ Here is a web site that makes it easy to find contact information for your U.S. Senators.

• Orphan Works Bill Put on Hold
  by Joyce Dickens, IPA

  Hi everyone to follow is a copy of an email I received yesterday….thought you all might be interested: / ___ / FROM THE ILLUS…

  Hi everyone to follow is a copy of an email I received yesterday….thought you all might be interested: / ___ / FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP / Senate Orphan Works Bill Put “on Hold” We’ve just received word that the Senate bill has been put “on hold.” In fact, there appear to be multiple holds on it. Senators who “hold” hotlined bills do not have to identify themselves nor give their reasons for holding it. Holds are temporary. We don’t know how many of you contacted your Senators on such short notice this afternoon, but many, many thanks to all of you who responded so rapidly. / / Most people are unaware of the process called hotlining. In the past it was used to pass non-controversial legislation, but increasingly, it’s being used to pass bills whose sponsors don’t want to see debate. An excellent article in Roll Call explains the process. Here’s an excerpt: Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills – previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions – to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate. The increase was particularly noticeable just before the August recess, when leaders hotlined more than 150 bills, totaling millions of dollars in new spending, in a period of less than a week. The practice has led to complaints from Members and watchdog groups alike that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read… In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object – in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed. - From ‘Hotlined’ Bills Spark Concern / By John Stanton, Roll Call Staff / September 17, 2007 / To read the full article, go to: http://tinyurl.com/3p8×2u This is the second time the Senate Orphan Works bill has been hotlined this summer. The previous hotline came on June 5, the same week artists descended on Washington to urge lawmakers to oppose this controversial bill. The bill was put on hold that time too. Since bills can be hotlined without prior notice, we’ll all have to stay vigilant throughout the rest of this legislative session. Thanks again to all of you who responded so quickly. Over 60 organizations, representing more than 250,000 creators, are united in opposing these bills in their current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. / Read the list: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00273

• For USA Copyright holders
  by Elena Ray

  Orphan Works Bill Call your Senators and Congress person to ask them to vote no on both the House of Representatives bill and the Sena…

  Orphan Works Bill Call your Senators and Congress person to ask them to vote no on both the House of Representatives bill and the Senate bill. Both bills are way to broad and seriously limit an artist’s right to protect their own work. Even the House bill, which is being touted as the better bill, puts the onus on the artist to register their images twice, with the Copyright Office and with a newly developed Orphan Works registry, in order to not be considered an Orphan or “abandoned” Work. You can use the follow web sites to get information to contact you appropriate representative. http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ / (easy to use template letters automatically sends to your representatives) http://www.congress.org/congressorg/directory/congdir.tt?action=myreps_form For more information on the issue please go to: http://www.apanational.com/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=3866 / (Reasoning against the Orphan Works bill.)

• ORPHAN WORKS ACT?!!!!!?!?
  by justjason

  Have any of you heard about the Bill in Congress RIGHT NOW!!!????This Bill is designed to strip YOUR Rights to your ART AWAY from YOU!!!!...

  Have any of you heard about the Bill in Congress RIGHT NOW!!!????This Bill is designed to strip YOUR Rights to your ART AWAY from YOU!!!!!! Please help speak out against this HORRIBLE IDEA…please goto the link below to oppose this BILL..it takes 2 minutes… http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ you can also listen to Illustrator Brad Hollands interview about this here… / http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan/orphan_works_information.mp3 / PLEASE HELP STOP THE OPPOSITION TO FREE EXPRESSION!!! / PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS TO YOUR CREATIONS NOW!!! / noyou / yesme

• IT'S JUST ... SICKENING
  by Harry Murray

  Will the people we are FORCED to rather generously pay to represent us here in the good ol’ USA … EVER … do anything more than SCREW …

  Will the people we are FORCED to rather generously pay to represent us here in the good ol’ USA … EVER … do anything more than SCREW us behind our backs and hand us a teeny, tiny, little 600 dollar “economic stimulus payment” so they can say, “Oooooooo look at all we are doing for you”?? WILL THEY EVER STOP BEING SO ARROGANT???? I seriously believe … anyone who votes for any canidate from the two major parties in this country should seriously have their heads examined. But sadly on many lines of many ballots there will be no other options … and certainly no … “none ‘o these bums!” THESE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN ENTRENCHED IN WASHINGTON FOR FAR TOO LONG, TAKING A SUBSTANTIAL PAYCHECK FROM THE TAXES WE PAY, WHILE FEATHERING THEIR OWN RATHER COMFORTABLE BEDS … AND DON’T GIVE ONE DAMN BIT ABOUT ANY OF US! And they are laughing their way into very nice retirements … many Federal Goverment Employees … particualrly at high levels … again people WE PAY rather well … aren’t much better. The U.S. Constitution no longer starts out “We the People” ... It now clearly reads … We the Saps, the Dopes & the Suckers! You want to hear it straighter than that … go on You Tube and listen to what George Carlin has to say about voting and the people running this country. People only nervously laugh at him now. He’s not being funny people. Not at all. Yes, some comedy is based on exageration. But he just doesn’t have to exagerate nearly as much any more. Same with Lewis Black. They don’t have to try … the absurdity of reality is rapidly surpassing that of comedy. We are in trouble. BIG trouble. Folks we are seriously getting … buggered … to be polite … at every bend in the road by these ladies and gentleman in Washington, and all the other little government seats too. The two party system has taken this once great country and ruined it … ruined at least for the majority of the honest hard working women and men struggling harder and harder every day to get by. While they have been getting more and more … we have been loosing ground since the 70’s. Yes, for over 30 years now the REAL income for the Average American Family has steadily dropped as their debt has steadily grown. In that same period REAL wages for the Average American Worker have dropped and benefits slowly disappeared. The AAF & AAW have lost ground in the same period that Corporations … have “out sourced” more … / moved entire idustries out of this country … / received more and more direct support from the Federal Government ... / received more and more concessions and breaks from the Fed … and many have recorded record profits … and that list could go on and on. OK so we are still better off then folks in a lot of places and should be very thankful for all we DO have. It is good and right to be grateful and thankful But here’s the kicker ….. THEY WANT TO TAKE THAT AWAY FROM US TOO! THEY WON’T STOP UNTIL THEY’VE BLED US DRY. WHY? THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO ANYTHING ELSE AND THE REAL PEOPLE RUNNING THIS CIRCUS CAN’T SEE PAST NEXT QUARTER’S PROFIT STATEMENTS. And we are supposed to be thrilled with a 600 dollar check? We are supposed to run out and spend it like kids in a candy store? Lets really mess with their minds … take the check … cash it … convert it to gold or silver … THEN BURY IT SOMEPLACE SAFE! Well I already spent half of mine … I gave it to a firend who lost their job to help them get by. Oh well I am rambling … but I do that when I am angry … and everyone should be. They have the POWER and the MONEY, but there are a helluvalot more of us than there are of them and we need to get aggressive and start DEMANDING better! Particularly from the people who prepetuate the farce of representing us in Washington. If nothing else … at least go read some of the thoughts on votenader.org. We really don’t have to put up with this bullshit … but it’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to get something back for US. And we do have to get our butts moving on this. I started MY morning almost loosing my breakfast reading what I have posted below. This is just so sickening and WRONG. Just plain WRONG. That people we have elected and we pay salaries to would even consider such a piece of legislation is a clear example of just how little they really care about the interest of the people they claim the right to represent. I’ll correct that … It’s not WRONG … It’s OBSCENE! But THIS is business everyday in Washington …. We need to get ANGRY! We need to stand up and FIGHT! We need to say ... WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS ABUSE ANY MORE! And make no mistake about it … it is ABUSE! REAL ABUSE! It should be illegal, it’s certainly unethical … there’s a little word long forgotten in the Halls and Backrooms of Congress and Corporate Boardrooms. Ethics! Ethics are those little things that are supposed to remind you that while you can do just about anything you want … there are times you shouldn’t … and YOU should be the one to stop yourself. WE NEED TO SAY IN MILLIONS OF LOUD VOICES …. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And we need to start saying it TODAY. Mind Your Business / You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art / Mark Simon As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress. In fact, it PISSES ME OFF! As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you’ve ever created! An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time or by lack of proper registration. Like when parents give up their child to be an orphan, you can give up ownership in your creative work to be an orphan for others to use without your permission. If you don’t like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrators Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork. Currently, you don’t have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value. What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalized THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them, or from large companies who will run the new private copyright registries. These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work. It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business, like Bill Gates, can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away. With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense. This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk! If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free. In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS! Why is this allowed to happen? APATHY and MONEY. Artists have apathy and corporations have money. We need to be heard in order to protect our incomes, our creations and our careers. GET OFF YOUR ASS! That means writing letters to our congressmen and representatives. That means voicing your opinion about how we need copyright protection, as we’ve had since 1976, that protects everything we create from the moment we create it. Currently, your work is copyrighted as soon as it’s created, whether you register it or not. This is the case around the world. However, an Orphan Works bill is also in the works in Europe. I was speaking recently with Roger Dean, the famed artist of the YES album covers, and he is greatly concerned with what will happen if Orphan Works bills become law. “This will devastate the livelihood of artist, photographers and designers in a number of ways.” Dean continues, “That at the behest of a few hugely rich corporations who got rich by selling art that they paid no part in the making of, the U.S. and U.K. governments are changing the copyright laws to protect the infringer instead of the creator. This is unjust, culturally destructive and commercial lunacy. This will not just hurt millions of artists around the world.” “On the other side of the coin,” Dean argues, “what argument will a U.S. court have with a Chinese company that insists it did its research in China and found nothing? If the cost of this is onerous for a U.S. based artist, what will it be like for artists and small businesses in emergent economies?” If an artist, whose work is as famous as Roger Dean’s, is concerned with this legislation, it should be of great concern for all of us. The people, associations and companies behind the Orphan Works bill state that orphaned works have no value. If that were true, no one would want them. However, these same companies DO WANT your work, they just don’t want to pay for it. If someone wants something, IT HAS VALUE. It’s pretty simple. Some major artist and photography associations, or I should say the managers of the associations, support this bill. The reason they support is that they will operate some of the registries and stand to make a lot of money. Some have already been given millions of dollars by the Library of Congress. Follow the money and you will see why some groups support this bill of legalized theft of everything you have ever created. Corbis and Getty Images have opposed the Bill but have a lobbyist in Washington who is negotiating behind closed doors for favorable concessions to them. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most art in the world orphans? Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn’t do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. For years we’ve heard of Hollywood fighting with China to protect the copyrights and income for distributing feature films from pirated DVDs. Our government has worked with the film studios to protect their investment. Individuals in our government are NOW WORKING AGAINST US by allowing our own citizens TO STEAL OUR CREATIVE WORKS. It will be easy for them to get away with it unless we make ourselves heard. Your calls and letters do work. I’ve been involved with many instances of a single letter making a difference in public policy. Tens of thousands of calls and letters help even more. This is not empty talk. I have written letters to my congressmen and I will do so again. I do what I can to let every creator know about terrible legislation like this…thus you are reading articles like this one and you can listen to interviews I’ve posted online. CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR: / Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phone number, address, e-mail of every U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor and State Legislator. Forward this article to every creator you know and urge them to take a moment to protect their very livelihood. I am giving everyone the right to reprint this article in any form to help spread the word to protect our creative rights. Instead of sitting around watching TV tonight, TiVo that show tonight, write a letter make yourself heard. Letters to our government officials don’t have to be long, but they should be heartfelt. A good story helps. Tell them who you are, how this legislation negatively affects you and that you want them to vote against the Orphan Works legislation. It’s that easy! If you don’t, you will have only yourself to blame when you see other people making money from your art and you don’t see a dime. Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. “When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living,” says Saviuk. “If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living.” “It would impossible for me to register all my art,” continues Saviuk. “It would put me out of business.” You can listen to my complete interview with Alex online at http://www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com/orphan.html. Think this doesn’t apply to you? Maybe you don’t license your artwork? How about this? Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity unauthorized use of your photos…legally. You could see photos you take of your family and kids or of a family vacation used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically in the current laws. If there are 3 registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo. That’s not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees. It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work. That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone else is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS? Do you think the U.S. Copyright Office is here to protect you from this legislation? Think again. Brad Holland of the Illustrator’s Partnership shares his notes from a recent meeting with General Counsel of the Copyright Office. Holland: “If a user can’t find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn’t the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work?” Carson: “Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries.” Holland: “But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register?” Carson: “If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest!” This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON! None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations. The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can’t create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They pay contributions to Congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you needs to write your Senators and Representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It’s that serious. Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don’t work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, one of the softwares used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee: “Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image with 99% success.” A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned. Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won’t be searched here and even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you’ve ever created. This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it’s not forced registration, but you won’t have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SIMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can’t stand for it! There many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on. For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists: / http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185. This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW! This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past 2 years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it. Roger Dean sums this up well, “Where are the colleges and Universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?” GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LIST: / To be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill and when we should contact our legislators, send an e-mail to illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com and ask to be added to the Orphan Works list. AUDIO INTERVIEW LINK: / I have recorded a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrator’s Partnership regarding this bill and what it means to us as artists. Please go online to http://www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com/orphan.html to listen and learn more about how you may lose ownership of all your art and photos. This article and the recorded interview are available for anyone to use in any print or on any website. Please forward this information to every person and group you know so we can work together and protect our creations and livelihoods. Mark Simon is an award-winning animation producer/director and speaker. He speaks around the world on subjects about art, animation and tv production. His copyrighted companies may be found online at www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com and www.Storyboards-East.com. He may be reached at marksimonbooks@yahoo.com. Portions of this article use information and phrasing provided by the Illustrators Partnership.

• Oppose Orphan Works Bill
  by Joyce Dickens, IPA

  Please help preserve our rights as photographers, artists, illustrators….by copying and pasting the following address into your browser…

  Please help preserve our rights as photographers, artists, illustrators….by copying and pasting the following address into your browser you will be taken directly to the page where you can voice your protest to this bill; your letter of opposition will be sent to your congressmen…....... http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ Thanks for your help….it will benefit all of us! Joyce

• Update: US copyrights law and the candidates
  by Glennis Siverson

  From ASMP, the American Society of Media Photographers: On Monday, ASMP executive director Eugene Mopsik participated in a meeting wit…

  From ASMP, the American Society of Media Photographers: On Monday, ASMP executive director Eugene Mopsik participated in a meeting with the McCain campaign’s senior policy advisor, Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The meeting was organized through the Copyright Alliance and included top executives from major producers and distributors of intellectual property. / Dr. Holtz-Eakin’s credentials are impressive. Before joining John McCain 2008 as Senior Policy Advisor, he was Director of the Congressional Budget Office for four years. He came to the CBO after eighteen months as Chief Economist for President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to that, Holtz-Eakin was a professor and department chair of Economics at Syracuse University. / During the meeting, Holtz-Eakin stated that McCain believes strongly that intellectual property creation will be an important driver for growth in the American economy in the coming years. Mopsik and representatives of other associations brought the issue of Orphan Works to his attention, stressing the importance of copyright for independent creators. Holtz-Eakin stated that McCain intends to be a strong supporter of creators’ rights and asked for additional information on the current Orphan Works legislation and ASMP’s position. / The McCain campaign intends to issue a position paper on Intellectual Property issues. ASMP will distribute this to our members as soon as it is available. / The Copyright Alliance has arranged for a similar high-level meeting with the Obama campaign later this week.

• Response
  by Melinda Kerr

  Hi again, / Some people have responded to my enquiry about sponsorship-and although they can’t offer money their interest helps. So thank …

  Hi again, / Some people have responded to my enquiry about sponsorship-and although they can’t offer money their interest helps. So thank you! I mentioned that some more photos are on line at www.melindakerr.dphoto.com / There are also some at www.africa.dphoto.com / Anyone’s feedback is appreciated. / Cheers, / Mel.

• A bubblers blah
  by bahgoesthesheep

  hello busy bubbler bees, / to spare you rants, i’ll keep some things short / The first of many things: You should all read up on the * O…

  hello busy bubbler bees, / to spare you rants, i’ll keep some things short / The first of many things: You should all read up on the * Orphaned Works Bill* go here contact your house rep, and hope like hell.! I’ve found myself lurking around mingtees profile alot recently / if your eye balls enjoy a treat, take a peek. :D I’ve decided im going to win one of these contests sooner or later x3 / Design By Humans / Rainy Day / / Brain Tumor / / Ashoo / / (he has some modifications) Thanks to anyone who actually votes i appreciate it soooo much! i want to do a thing maybe…...like free t-shirts…...if my design gets printed, i’ll give out like 10 free shirts… or more, pending. Everyone who voted will have a chance to win, like a drawing names from a hat speal. Everyone who votes post a comment with a link(s) to the shirt you voted for so i can keep track of ya :D. Good idea? I know its been kinda slow lately, i’ve been working on alot of new stuff, expect a couple of new styles ;D and and etsy shop stuffed with lots of cuteness!! / thanks for reading / hearts for you!

• Orphan Works .... One more time ...
  by Harry Murray

  Some simple questions … Do you believe you should have the right to OWN YOUR CREATIVE PROPERTY, affectively defend that right, have …

  Some simple questions … Do you believe you should have the right to OWN YOUR CREATIVE PROPERTY, affectively defend that right, have that right respected world wide, and have that right protected? I see people talk about copyright infringement and their images being stolen all the time on here and other POD’s. And some get quite upset about it. Will you be able to afford a per image fee to protect all the images you have created and will create? Will you be able to afford it for the rest of your life or have to stop creating at some point? OR worse … just let others steal your work. We really need to get to work and help stop the Orphan Works Act of 2008. The House subcommittee has already voted in favor of this legislation. The only way to stop it now is to literally flood both Houses of Congress with faxes and letters … phone calls even if you have an ear. We need to convince them we don’t want it and that it is not a good piece of legislation. WE NEED TO FIGHT FOR AND PROTECT OUR RIGHTS … no one is going to do this for us. Keep an eye on this Red Bubble FORUM thread Illustrators Partnership has set up a way to send faxes If the people who want this legislation win … WE ALL LOOSE!

• Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art
  by metronomad

  Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art...

  Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art / April 10, 2008 / By Mark Simon As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress. In fact, it PISSES ME OFF! As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you’ve ever created! An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission. If you don’t like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with the Illustrators’ Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork. Currently, you don’t have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value. What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries. These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work. It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away. With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense. This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk! If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we’ve created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won’t successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free. In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS! Why is this allowed to happen? APATHY and MONEY. Artists have apathy and corporations have money. We need to be heard in order to protect our incomes, our creations and our careers. GET OFF YOUR ASS! That means writing letters to our congressmen and representatives. That means voicing your opinion about how we need copyright protection, as we’ve had since 1976, that protects everything we create from the moment we create it. This is the case around the world. However, an Orphan Works bill is also in the works in Europe. I was speaking recently with Roger Dean, the famed artist of the Yes album covers, and he is greatly concerned with what will happen if Orphan Works bills become law. “This will devastate the livelihood of artists, photographers and designers in a number of ways,” Dean says. “That at the behest of a few hugely rich corporations who got rich by selling art that they played no part in the making of, the U.S. and U.K. governments are changing the copyright laws to protect the infringer instead of the creator. This is unjust, culturally destructive and commercial lunacy. This will not just hurt millions of artists around the world. “On the other side of the coin, what argument will a U.S. court have with a Chinese company that insists it did its research in China and found nothing? If the cost of this is onerous for a U.S.-based artist, what will it be like for artists and small businesses in emergent economies?” If an artist whose work is as famous as Roger Dean’s is concerned with this legislation, it should be of great concern for all of us. The people, associations and companies behind the Orphan Works bill state that orphaned works have no value. If that were true, no one would want them. However, these same companies DO WANT your work, they just don’t want to pay for it. If someone wants something, IT HAS VALUE. It’s pretty simple. Some major art and photography associations, or I should say, the managers of the associations, support this bill. The reason they support it is that they will operate some of the registries and stand to make a lot of money. Some have already been given millions of dollars by the Library of Congress. Follow the money and you will see why some groups support this bill of legalized theft of everything you have ever created. Two proponents of this new legislation are Corbis and Getty Images. They are large stock photo and stock art companies. They sell art and photos inexpensively and are trying to build giant royalty-free databases. Do you see how they could benefit from considering most works of art in the world orphans? Do you know who owns Corbis? Bill Gates. He doesn’t do anything unless it can make a huge amount of money. Helping you lose the copyright to your art is big business for Gates. For years we’ve heard of Hollywood fighting with China to protect copyrights and stop the pirating of DVDs. Our government has worked with the studios to protect their investment. Our government is NOW WORKING AGAINST US by allowing our own fellow citizens TO STEAL OUR CREATIVE WORKS. It will be easy for them to get away with it unless we make ourselves heard. Your calls and letters do work. I’ve seen many instances in which a single letter made a difference in public policy. Tens of thousands of calls and letters help even more. This is not empty talk. I have written letters to my congressmen and I will do so again. I do what I can to let every creator know about terrible legislation like this… thus you are reading articles like this one and you can listen to interviews I’ve posted online. CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR / Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phone number, address and e-mail of every U.S. senator, U.S. representative, governor and state legislator. Forward this article to every creator you know and urge them to take a moment to protect their very livelihood. I am giving everyone the right to reprint this article in any form to help spread the word to protect our creative rights. Instead of sitting around watching TV tonight, TiVo that show, write a letter and make yourself heard. Letters to our government officials don’t have to be long, but they should be heartfelt. A good story helps. Tell them who you are, how this legislation negatively affects you and that you want them to vote against the Orphan Works legislation. It’s that easy! If you don’t, you will have only yourself to blame when you see other people making money from your art and you don’t see a dime. Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. “When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living,” says Saviuk. “If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living.” “It would be impossible for me to register all my art,” continues Saviuk. “It would put me out of business.” You can listen to my complete interview with Alex online. Think this doesn’t apply to you? Maybe you don’t license your artwork? How about this? Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your photos… legally. You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo. That’s not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Do you really have all that extra time and money? Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees. It gets even better. Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work. That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it. DOES ANYONE SEE A PROBLEM WITH THIS? Do you think the U.S. Copyright Office is here to protect you from this legislation? Think again. Brad Holland of the Illustrators’ Partnership shares his notes from a recent meeting with David O. Carson, general counsel of the Copyright Office. Brad Holland: If a user can’t find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn’t the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work? David O. Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries. BH: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register? DOC: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest! This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON! None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations. The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can’t create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They make contributions to congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you need to write your senators and representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It’s that serious. Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don’t work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee: “Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success.” A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned. Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won’t be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you’ve ever created. This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it’s not forced registration, but you won’t have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can’t stand for it! There are many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on. For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists. This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW! This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past two years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it. Roger Dean sums this up well. “Where are the colleges and universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?”

• An Appeal from the Heart. Group Moderators please allow this in your journal sections if you possibly can......
  by smokipoki

  I appeal to all Group Moderators to allow this into their journal entries even if it does not comply with their rules… I think the mean…

  I appeal to all Group Moderators to allow this into their journal entries even if it does not comply with their rules… I think the means justify the end in this case…Please read on and then decide for yourselves. I found the below bmail sent by Olga, from the Living Christianity Group today. She enclosed a photo with her message and it was so touching that I just had to find out more about this very special Mission. / I invite you to check it out for yourselves and if you can find it in your hearts to donate, however little it may be, it will probably make you very happy! / Here is the Link / Special thanks to Olga for bringing this to our attention. / My best to all. / ASTRID / (smokipoki) PS: I normally hate chain mail but I would so much love for this little writing to be passed around from person to person here at red bubble and beyond…...way beyond…so that we can all do our little bit to help these vulnerable people and in particular the little children; even if just to create an awareness in others. Here is Olga’s message: Dear Members, / most of you probably know well our missionary brother TREVOR IRWIN who works in an extremely poor area of Africa… I set up a new Forum called “PLEASE HELP PHILADELPHIA MISSION” (the last forum topic when you roll down) where you can find every information to be involved in this special ministry… Your prayer would be most appreciated so God can open doors and move His mighty hands to save these people and many children. To help with donation is now also possible through the web site if that’s what the Lord lays on your heart. / Thank you very much for considering / Olga

• Just received on Orphan Works Act
  by richardredhawk

  I just received a letter today from both my Representive and Congressman on the / “ORPHAN WORKS Act of 2006” / The bill was not passed and…

  I just received a letter today from both my Representive and Congressman on the / “ORPHAN WORKS Act of 2006” / The bill was not passed and has to be reintroduced into the legislation again and as of their letters dated one on 23 April and the other on 15 April appears that the bill has not been reintroduced for consideration by the legislator and congress / So it might be that the bill will not be introduced but you can never tell but at this time it is not on the docket that is as of 23 April 2008 / So write you legislator and congress person and let them know how yuu feel if the bill gets reintroduced. / Beleive me that my house of representives hears from me almost quarterly so they know when I disilke something I don’t let it rest and let them know

• Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act.
  by Cacciatore Del Demon

  May 19, 2008 FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP Call to Action / Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan …

  May 19, 2008 FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP Call to Action / Last Thursday the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act. / It is now headed for the full Senate. If you’ve written before, now’s the time to write again. / Urge your senator to oppose this bill. Because it has been negotiated behind closed doors, introduced on short notice and fast-tracked for imminent passage without open hearings, ask that this bill not be passed until it can be exposed to an open, informed and transparent public debate. We’ve drafted a special letter for this purpose. / You can deep link to it here: / Contact your Senator in opposition to S.2913 NOW / http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389061 The House Judiciary Committee is considering H.R. 5889, the companion bill now. Please write them again: / Contact your Congressman in opposition to H.R. 5889 NOW / http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389081 2 minutes is all it takes to write your senator and representatives and fight for your copyrights. Over 68,000 e-mail messages have been sent so far. Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work Please forward this message to every artist you know. If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: ipa@twcny.rr.com / Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

• More on Orphaned Works...must read!
  by Shannon Rene' Justice

  My pal Harry posted this and I thought i would repost for more of you to see! More on Orphaned Works...

  My pal Harry posted this and I thought i would repost for more of you to see! More on Orphaned Works

• Orphan Works Bill Opposition
  by Joyce Dickens, IPA

  Subject : Orphan Works Opposition Party: Atlanta / / Date : Thu, Jul 10, 2008 04:15 PM / / / / / FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS…

  Subject : Orphan Works Opposition Party: Atlanta / / Date : Thu, Jul 10, 2008 04:15 PM / / / / / FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP In Atlanta this weekend!: / An Orphan Works Opposition Party / Saturday, July 12, 7:30 PM / Lynne Farris Gallery / 50 Hurt Plaza Southeast / Atlanta, GA 30303 404 202-5654 / Admission Free/Open to the Public The event is open to the general public as well as visual artists, musicians, writers and independent filmmakers. Learn about the danger to copyright posed by the pending Orphan Works bill. Ask questions about the legislation and how it will affect you. Find out what you can do to help. Decorate a postcard and send it to your elected officials to let them know that you oppose this bill. Blank pre-stamped postcards will be available at the party, along with the addresses of your elected officials. A $1 or $2 donation at the door will be appreciated to help defray postage. This party is being organized by art licensing community members Joanne Fink, Brenda Pinnick and Kathy Fincher, and hosted by Lynne Farris of the Lynne Farris Gallery. Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner of the Illustrator’s Partnership will participate via speaker-phone. For more information about the orphan works legislation and opposition effort, please visit our website: www.owoh.org Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work / Write Congress and fight for your copyrights: 2 minutes is all it takes. / http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home Sign the Petition: A Million People Against the Orphan Works Bill / http://www.petitiononline.com/Stop2913/petition.html For more information about Orphan Works go to the / IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists / http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185 If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area. Please post or forward this message in its entirety to any interested party. Illustrators Partnership of America | 845 Moraine Street | Marshfield | MA | 02050 / ___ Just in case any of you are interested…....I just received this…...........Joyce / / / / /

• Red Bubble Plans To Steal YOUR ART WATCH OUT!!!
  by Dragoncat

  Hello all you ignorant People!! / smiles / Red Bubble is not your Friend, as They Intend To Steal Your Art , / And Make It theirs… / I do…

  Hello all you ignorant People!! / smiles / Red Bubble is not your Friend, as They Intend To Steal Your Art , / And Make It theirs… / I do Verily Say , Beware Beware BEWARE!!! AWAY YOU DULL CARE!! / they have told me that their Security methods or whatever are adequate… / Yes Maybe Adequate enough for them , So they Can STEAL your Art Without argument… / I have a Strong Suspicion that THEY ORCHESTRATED these orphan laws / So therfore they Could Steal your Art without ANy Possible Recourse for your’e retaliation , so They can Steal your Art , Free and Clear, And Quite Legally In fact, well according to the Law anyways… Put it simply RED BUBBLE IS EVIL!! AND MUST BE SHUT DOWN!! AND ALL the ART THEY HAVE STOLEN SO FAR SHOULD BE RETURNED AT RED BUBBLES CHARGE!!! I AM PLANNING on GETTING MYSELF a LAWYER , AS SO should all Of you!! I feel for you!! It make me so Very sad to see such gullable people getting RIPPED OFF THIS WAY!! O well Ignorance is Bliss Right? I wish for you people to recieve an awakening, for your EYES to be Opened to the truth, the REAL truth about this RED BUBBLE WEBSITE!! Take Care!

• PETITION AGAINST ORPHANS WORK ACT BILL
  by caroline caux-evans

  For all ARTIST / petition against the ORPHANS WORKS ACT BILL / check the petition site ! and sign! / if you feel called to do it! Orphan …

  For all ARTIST / petition against the ORPHANS WORKS ACT BILL / check the petition site ! and sign! / if you feel called to do it! Orphan Works Act Bill Some one said one day ,: “Art is a sublime mission, even unto fanaticism” / and THIS person added :”The only lasting realisation of the work and human energy of man on this earth is ART”! “The higher thought which can be shared and expressed,by the most grandiose form, that what must be the untirerying guide of THE ARTIST For me : THE ARTIST = THE HEARTIST Online petition – Say

• U.S. Orphan Works Bills
  by Ivor Tetteh-Lartey

  This is something that will affect all visual artist around the world. / The Orphan Works Bill basically means that your copyrighted work …

  This is something that will affect all visual artist around the world. / The Orphan Works Bill basically means that your copyrighted work can be declared an Orphan unless you register the copyright with the appropriate agency. Imagine the cost of registering every image you have produced and are currently producing for example $1 US. / This can means that an ” infringer” can claim your work if they can show that they have made a “reasonably diligent search” / Full details at www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 If anyone knows how to give this more exposure. Please do so. THIS BILL WILL AFFECT painters,illustrators and photographers worldwide.

• Please write to Congress re. this Bill. It impacts all of us.
  by Glennis Siverson

  The Orphan Works threat is real and it affects our future as artists who depend upon fair copyright laws to protect us. The drive to stea…

  The Orphan Works threat is real and it affects our future as artists who depend upon fair copyright laws to protect us. The drive to steal our intellectual property by diluting the / copyright laws is gaining momentum. Take this seriously. Get educated on the issue and take action now! (Orphan refers to certain works, not people who have lost parents.) There are two Orphan Works bills under consideration, one in the Senate, the other in the House. The House bill is more acceptable to the ASMP and most photographers; the more immediate threat is in the Senate legislation, and we are directly opposed to the bill before the Senate. In your letters and emails be sure to include the following language: Please oppose this bill until it is amended to contain better protection for photographers and artists, including, but not limited to; 1.A notice of use that must be filed before the use is made, upon penalty of losing eligibility to claim orphan work status for failure to file the notice; / 2.An archive of the notices, to be maintained by the Copyright Office or an approved third party; / 3.Other protections that appear in the current (May 15, 2008) language of H.R. 5889. A full sample letter is pasted below. / These can be faxed to your Senators now. Sample letter to Senators Re: S.2913 the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 Dear Senator ______> I am one of your constituents, an artist and photographer. It is crucial to my professional livelihood that you oppose this bill in its current form. If this bill’s current language becomes law, it would permit, and even encourage, wide-scale infringements of my copyrighted photographs while depriving me of many of the protections currently available to me under the Copyright Act, including the right to ask the courts to award statutory damages and attorneys’ fees. In the publication world, the reality is that most photographs will easily become considered orphaned, depriving me of a significant part of my much needed income. I urge you to oppose this bill unless and until it is amended to contain at least the minimum provisions that are critical to protect photographers, including but not limited to a notice of use that must be filed before the use is made, upon penalty of losing eligibility to claim orphan work status for failure to file the notice; an archive of the notices, to be maintained by the Copyright Office or an approved third party; and other protections that appear in the current (May 15, 2008) language of H.R. 5889. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can provide you with any additional information. Thank you for your time. I hope that you will take the necessary actions to protect my interests and prevent the passage of this bill until it is amended to be fair and reasonable to all parties. Respectfully yours, (your name) Please remember to sign your posts. SAMPLE LETTER TO CONGRESSMEN Re: H.R. 5889. the Orphan Works Act of 2008 Dear (Mr./Ms.) ____: I am one of your constituents, an artist and photographer, I am writing to thank / you for including many important protections for professional photographers / in the current (May 20, 2008) language of H.R. 5889 and to urge you not to / approve any changes to that language that would reduce those protections or / in any way, directly or indirectly, be to the detriment of professional / photographers. By way of example, the requirement that infringers must file / a Notice of Use before using an orphan work and that all such Notices must / be maintained in a “dark archive” are critical to protecting our interests / under this Bill. Orphan works legislation is entirely for the benefit of the user community / at the expense of the copyright owner community, particularly the creators / of visual artworks, such as professional photographers. The current / language of the bill contains the bare minimum of what photographers need / and can accept, and any reductions in the protections for photographers, / direct or indirect, will make the legislation unfair, unreasonable and / unacceptable. The user community must realize that it is getting access to copyrighted / works for free, so it is completely appropriate for its members to be / required to comply with some administrative requirements. Similarly, the / Copyright Office exists to serve both the public and the copyright owners, / and it must be willing to comply with any reasonable changes in its / procedures that would benefit both groups at reasonable cost. The current language H.R. 5889 already erodes my rights under the Copyright / Act. I urge you to protect my existing rights and not to allow any changes / that would be to my further detriment in any way. Thank you for your time, / attention and support. Respectfully yours, / (your name) Committee Membership Majority Members (Democrats) Member Name DC Phone DC FAX Email Please remember to sign your posts.

• Important Info about Orphaned Works Act, Please Read...
  by Jessie M

  More info about the greed of the U.S. legislation and our artwork/photography: Originally posted by: Mike Cressy...

  More info about the greed of the U.S. legislation and our artwork/photography: Originally posted by: Mike Cressy Sorry to be serious for a moment but this concerns all of us! Hey friends….I hope you can give us artists a hand on this issue. It is time sensitive, urgent and critical that as many people as possible speak up. The financial crisis is providing cover so this bill is able to sneak through. Because of the scramble on the bail-out bill, this Orphan Works bill was passed in the Senate under the radar. It’s about our copy rights for visual artists, writers, photographers and songwriters…anyone in the creative field. If this Orphan Works bill passes through the House , we artists will be obliged to pay Google, directly or indirectly, $200 for each piece, song, image, etc. we create in order to protect our copyright. At this time, all we have to do is sign our work, put the date and the”circle c” and we have a copyright. If we want more protection, ie. from court costs on infringement issues, we can send our images and $30 to the Copyright Division of the Federal Government, and then we are registered. I don’t think any of us want to further enrich an huge and very wealthy company and make it easier for them to catalogue and use artist’s work without their consent. As we have seen, especially in the recent weeks, the corporations (and the government in cahoots with them) have not served well for the ordinary US citizen. And, for most of us artists, our copyright is one of our most valuable assets. If we have no protection unless we pay, what for most of us, is big money for each creation, then we have no way to make a living. Please click on the site provided…there is a form letter there and it’s easy…send it out and help your artist friends. I included quotes from some of my friends and the Illustration Society, if you want to read more about it. Thank you so much. Jennifer Carrasco Here’s the site http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321 “While this is marked “low importance”, it’s exactly the opposite—congress is trying to hotline a bill through that would significantly change the copyright laws. As individuals involved in the generation of creative works, you would be required to register your work with two bureaus for $100 a piece—if not, then your work will be considered “orphan” and you will lose your ownership rights. Please read more about this bill, and if you agree, send a letter to your congress people letting them know how you feel—links are below in the e-mail to do this, already written out, etc. As you know, copyright is granted automatically in the US when the work is created—you would lose this under this addition to the copyright code. Interestingly enough, Google is a huge supporter of this legislation, as it will eliminate having to get your permission for them to catalogue your work, and repurpose it however they see fit. Thanks for your time, and thank you for reading.