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FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

Visual Artists Go to Washington, Independent Record Labels Oppose Orphan Works Act 

Last week over two dozen visual artists, representing illustrators, photographers, fine artists and the arts licensing trades went to Capital Hill to explain to legislators how the Orphan Works Act will harm creators and the hundreds of thousands of art-related small businesses that serve and are dependent on them. At the same time, independent music labels have joined the opposition to orphan works legislation as it currently exists. 

The Illustrators’ Partnership has stressed that Orphan Works legislation should be limited to true orphaned work and not act as an unwarranted compulsory license imposed on commercial markets. IPA, the Advertising Photographers of America and the Artists Rights Society have joined to offer amendments to that effect.

 

Excerpted from the Washington Internet Daily/Monday June 09, 2008:

The visual-arts community hit the Hill last week to protest what it portrays as a hijacking of the orphan-works issue as it was presented in a 2005 Copyright Office report...

The Copyright Office ran a bait-and-switch from its 2005 notice of intent, which focused on facilitating libraries', museums' and other nonprofits' efforts to digitize collections to improve access to them, [Illustrators’ Partnership co-founder Brad] Holland said. Artists want the issue narrowed back to that focus, scrapping commercial use, he said...Copyright Office roundtables on orphan works never addressed alternates to registries, an "untested, untried, unaccountable market system" favoring Google, Getty, Corbis and other commercial aggregators, Holland said. [Cynthia] Turner [also of the Partnership] said artists would incur high costs registering works, and they hesitate to hand over high-res, commercial versions to Google or others.

In the same article, Washington Internet Daily also reports that the leading group of independent music labels has broken with the corporate music trade associations. The American Association of Independent Music has published a position paper opposing the current orphan works bills. The article quotes a music industry executive: "I can tell you that nobody in the music business" sought the bill.

... the executive said the bill is "de facto... establishing a new compulsory license" by putting unregistered artists at a legal disadvantage in court. The law can't explicitly require registration or it will violate the Berne Convention, TRIPS and other treaties the U.S. has signed, the executive said. Book publishers and music executives in the U.K. think the U.S. will be in trouble, the executive said, citing a recent visit: "I can tell you there are European commissioners that are looking at this right now."

-Excerpts from “Orphan-Works Bills Scorned by Visual Arts, Indie Labels” by Greg Piper, Washington Internet Daily June 09, 2008

Also see http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/27803/visual-artists-and-indie-record-labels-voice-concern-over-orphan-works-bills/

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Thanks for working to help get this out, here Jinny! Every bit helps! Now, get to emailing, people!!

You're welcome, Danno. It's good to see someone take an interest in this matter, so thanks to you as well.

I'm way behind posting newsletters from Illustrators' Partnership of America and hope to find some time to get caught up before too many more days pass.

 

Hi folks,

I haven't posted any of the Illustrators' Partnership newsletters for the past couple of months and hope those of you who consider this an important issue have subscribed to the newsletter and have kept up to date with what's been happening. 

For those who are not subscribed to the newsletter, I'm going to post all ten newsletters sent since the last one I posted here, in order of their arrival in my Inbox.

Then in my next post, I'll follow the newsletter issues with the latest news from a friend at In Depth Arts and links to a couple of pages on the Web where you can get the latest, very important info. If you don't have time to read all of these newsletters right now, do take time to read my next post, at least. Thanks!

 

Dated July 2, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP International Confederation Condemns U.S. Orphan Works Act Last week,the International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic, and Photographic Arts (CIAGP) adopted the following resolution: "Resolved that the artists rights societies of 31 countries, members of CIAGP, under the aegis of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), hereby expresses its condemnation of any effort by the United States Congress to legitimize and endorse an 'orphan works' regime, which would function to the great detriment of the creators of these works, and deprive them of their artists' rights." The resolution was unanimously adopted during the international conference of CISAC. It was proposed by Dr. Ted Feder of the U.S., President of the Artists Rights Society http://arsny.com CIAGP is the visual arts division of CISAC. CIAGP collectively acts for over 100,000 artists, photographers and illustrators through artists rights societies in 31 countries. CISAC works towards increased recognition and protection of creators' rights. Founded in 1926, CISAC is a non-profit organization headquartered in Paris. Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work 2 minutes is all it takes to write Congress and fight for your copyrights. http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home Special link for our international friends and colleagues: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267 Read the legislation's impact on visual artists House Bill  http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/bills/?billid=11320236 Senate Bill http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/bills/?billid=11322171 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.

 

 

Dated July 10, 2008:

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.

 

 

Dated July 13, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP We've had word that the House Judiciary Committee may mark-up the Orphan Works Bill this week. This is the session where Committee Members will propose, accept and reject amendments to H.R. 5889. After markup, the bill could be reported out of the House Committee and go to the floor for a vote. We've submitted several critical amendments for consideration: These would limit the scope of the bill to affect only true orphaned work. Unless such amendments are adopted, we believe the bill should not be reported out until its impact on small businesses can be determined. Here's our summary of the issues at stake in the House version of this bill: Q What is the Orphan Works Act? A: A proposed amendment to copyright law that would impose a radically new business model on the licensing of copyrighted work.   Q: How would it do that? A: It would force all creators to digitize their life's work and hand it over to privately-owned commercial databases or see it exposed to widespread infringement by anyone, for any purpose, however commercial or distasteful. Q: How would it hurt me if I didn't register my work? A: The bill would let infringers rely on for-profit registries to search for your work. If your work is not in the databases, it's a potential "orphan." Q: What about my unpublished work? A: The bill would apply to any work, from professional paintings to family snapshots, home videos, etc., including published and unpublished work and any work ever placed on the internet. Q: How would these databases work? A: No one has yet unveiled a business plan, but we suspect they'd operate like stock houses, promoting themselves as one-stop shopping centers for licensing art. If you've registered your work with them, they'll probably charge you maintenance fees and commissions for clearing your work. If you're a publisher or art director, they'll probably charge you search fees. If you're an infringer, they'll probably charge you a search fee and issue orphan certificates for any unregistered work you'd like to infringe. We assume different registries may have different terms, and any start-up terms will of course be subject to change. Q: How will the bill affect the market for commissioned work? A: It will be a gold mine for opportunists, favoring giant image banks over working artists. Some companies will probably sell access to orphans as royalty-free work -- or they'll harvest orphans and bundle them for sale as clip art. Other companies can harvest orphans, alter them slightly to make "derivative works" and register the derivatives as their own copyrighted product. Freelancers would then be forced to compete against their own lost art - and that of their colleagues - for the new commissions they need to make a living. Q: But the bill's sponsors say the bill is just a small adjustment to copyright law. A: No, it's actually a reversal of copyright law. It presumes that the public is entitled to use your work as a primary right and that it's your legal obligation to make your work available. Q: But isn't the House bill an improvement over the Senate version? A: Only for those who intend to operate commercial databases. These registries will exist to make money. To make money, they'll have to do a lively business in clearing work for infringements. That means making their databases infringer-friendly. Q: But isn't the House bill better because it requires an infringer to file a Notice of Use, documenting their intent to infringe? A: The House bill creates a very low threshold for infringers to meet. They'd only have to file a text description (not the image itself) of the work they want to infringe, plus information about their search and any ownership information they've found. Q: But won't that let artists consult the archive to see if their work has been infringed? A: No, as currently written, the Notice of Use is a dark archive, which means you won't have access to it. If someone infringes your work and has filed a Notice of Use, you wouldn't know about it. Q: Then how would I know if my work is in the Dark Archive? A: You wouldn't, unless a.) you discover you've been infringed; b.) you sue the infringer in federal court; c.) the infringer asserts an Orphan Works defense. Then you can file a request to see if the infringer has filed a Notice of Use to infringe your work. Q: Then what good does it do me for the infringer to file a Notice of Use? A: It's of no probative value to you at all unless you go to court. And if you do, you'd better be sure of winning because otherwise, without the possibility of statutory damages and attorneys' fees, it will be too expensive for you to sue. If the Notice of Use helps anyone, it actually helps the infringer: it lets him prove in court that he followed the prescribed protocol to "legally" infringe your work. Q: Then shouldn't we ask Congress to change the Dark Archive to an open one? A: This would still place an impossible burden on you. Can you imagine routinely slogging through a "lost and found" containing millions of text descriptions of works to see if something sounds like one of the hundreds or thousands of illustrations you may have done? Q: So should the infringement archive be changed to display images rather than text descriptions? A: If so, you'd have a come-and-get-it archive for new infringers to exploit works that have already been identified as orphans by previous infringers. Q: The bill's sponsors say the House version includes specific instructions on the requirements for diligent searches. A: No, read the bill. It's full of ambiguous terms like "reasonable" and "diligent" that can only be decided by courts on a case-by-case basis. That could take a decade of expensive lawsuits and appeals. How many millions of copyrights will be orphaned before we learn how the courts ultimately define these vague terms?   Q: Then what can we do to improve this bill? A: We don't believe the bill can be patched up to mitigate its harm to creators. The Orphan Works matter should be solved with carefully defined expansions of fair use to permit reproduction by libraries and archives, or for family photo restoration and duplication. Narrow exceptions like these would also meet the needs of other orphan works usage without violating artists' rights as defined by the 1976 Copyright Act, The Berne Convention and Article 13 of the TRIPs Agreement. These copyright-related international trade treaties are not just a matter of law. They codify longstanding business practices that have passed the test of time. Q: What can we do now to oppose this legislation? A:  If you're opposed to the House bill in its current form, contact members of the full House Judiciary Committee. Ask them to adopt our amendments limiting the scope of the bill to affect only true orphaned work. Tomorrow, we'll email you a short basic letter which you may use as a template. --Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership Over 60 organizations are united in opposing this bill in its current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work To use the Orphan Works Opposition Website just go to this link: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ Put in your zip code and follow the instructions. Your letters will be addressed and sent automatically. It takes less than 2 minutes to fight for your copyright. 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.

 

Dated July 14, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP As we wrote yesterday the House Judiciary Committee may mark-up the Orphan Works Bill this week. Here's a short letter we're proposing for Committee members. Please feel free to modify it and use it as your own. Dear Honorable ________________, As an artist and a small business owner, I'm writing to oppose H.R. 5889, the Orphan Works Act of 2008 as currently drafted. Please support the amendments submitted jointly by the Illustrators' Partnership of America, the Artists Rights Society and the Advertising Photographers of America. Otherwise, please do not vote this bill out of committee until Congress can hold proper hearings into the harm it will do to small businesses, individual creators and ordinary citizens.   While I support a bill that would give libraries and museums a legitimate expansion of fair use, H.R. 5889 is far too broad. It would cause trillions of dollars of private property to be transferred into the control of a few corporate databases with no guarantee as to how these assets will be protected, used or abused. It will undermine the passive copyright protection that all citizens now enjoy - and that threatens individual creativity, freedom of expression and the right to privacy embodied in copyright law. There is no reason for the reckless scope of this bill. It is based on a Copyright Office study of orphaned work. Yet it will permit the infringement of contemporary work by creators working in today's commercial markets - a subject the Copyright Office never studied. Its stated purpose is to let libraries and museums digitize their collections and let ordinary folks duplicate family photos. But these modest goals can be met with a modest expansion of Fair Use. I do not believe citizens should have to hand over their personal intellectual property to a few corporate special interests. The unintended consequences of this bill could be a rights grab of monumental proportions. Please look behind the talking points of the special interests promoting the Orphan Works Act. Do not support a major revision of copyright law without an open, informed and transparent public debate.           Sincerely, We recommend using this template letter 2 ways: Email it to House Judiciary Committee members using this deep link. Download the text of this letter, copy it onto your own letterhead and fax it to members of the House Judiciary Committee. We provided their contact information and fax numbers for you here.  --Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership Over 60 organizations, numbering over 250,000 creators, are united in opposing this bill in its current form. Illustrators, photographers, fine artists, songwriters, musicians, and countless licensing firms all believe this bill will harm their small businesses. Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work 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.

 

 

Dated July 15, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP The Orphan Works Mark-up for this week has been postponed. This gives us more time to email and fax members of the House Judiciary Committee. Write and ask them to support the amendments submitted jointly by the Illustrators' Partnership, the Artists Rights Society and the Advertising Photographers of America. http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/hr-5889-amendments.html These amendments would: Insure that the bill will only affect true orphaned work; Insure that the bill will not violate international trade agreements; Insure that the bill will not take effect until a market impact survey concludes it will not harm existing commercial markets. Otherwise, ask them not to vote this bill out of committee until Congress can hold proper hearings into the harm it will do to small businesses, individual creators and ordinary citizens. Our sample letter to House Judiciary Committee members can be deep linked here: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11618481 Contact information for House Judiciary Committee members can be accessed here: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/07/house-judiciary-committee-contact-list.html For Orphan Works Updates use our new Orphan Works blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ View the Orphan Works Forum Webcast from the Society of Illustrators: http://www.unitedpgremote.com/society/soi_2008_05_04.html Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work Write Congress and fight for your copyrights           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.

 

 

Dated July 27, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP More Groups Condemn Controversial Orphan Works Bills JULY 15, 2008 The California Copyright Conference and the Association of Independent Music Publishers have announced a joint position paper condemning the Orphan Works bills. In a five page paper they conclude: "The Orphan Works bills are deeply flawed and would have serious unintended but far reaching adverse effects." "The final report is the result of a collaborative effort from a panel of distinguished experts who bring together differing viewpoints on copyright matters," says Cheryl Hodgson, current President of the California Copyright Conference (CCC). "The unanimity of the voice with which they have chosen to speak underscores the reason all copyright owners should read and understand the issues." These bills "threaten to erode fundamental protections for copyright authors and owners," the paper begins. The bills will "encourage copyright infringement and objectionable uses across the full spectrum of protected artistic works": In the process of "helping" appropriate other people's personal property, the legislation promotes the incremental dismantling of one of our nation's primary economic growth engines. The Internet, computer and consumer electronics industries utilize vast amounts of copyrighted works to attract customers to their websites, from which they derive enormous profits from advertising and subscription fees, These industries have long sought to eliminate copyright protections and to avoid paying for the content they use to lure consumers. "The Orphan Works bill has the potential to erode the protection that copyright owners have fought for over many years," says attorney Steve Winogradsky, past President of both the California Copyright Conference and the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). "It puts the burden on the copyright owner to find the offending parties and either negotiate with them without the remedies currently available to bring about reasonable compensation or bring costly litigation. In short, for copyright owners, the Orphan Works bill is a disaster." View Report http://www.brandaideblog.com/pdf/Position_Statement.pdf More than 60 groups representing illustrators, photographers, musicians and writers now openly oppose this controversial revision of US copyright law. Over 112,000 letters have been sent to lawmakers from the Illustrators Partnership advocacy site. Don't Let Congress Orphan Your Work Write Congress and fight for your copyrights Tell the House Judiciary Committee members not to support this controversial revision of copyright law. Send this e-mail message now: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11618481    To follow current Orphan Works developments, go to the Illustrators Partnership Orphan Works blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/     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.

 

 

Dated July 30, 2008:

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP ORPHAN WORKS BILL HOTLINED THIS MEANS IT COULD PASS THE SENATE THIS AFTERNOON PLEASE CALL YOUR SENATORS IMMEDIATELY ASK THEM TO PUT A "HOLD" ON THE BILL: S2913 THE SHAWN BENTLEY ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008 TELL THEM YOU OPPOSE THIS CONTROVERSIAL BILL ASK THEM NOT TO PASS IT WITHOUT A FULL AND OPEN HEARING WARN THEM THAT IT WILL DO GREAT HARM TO SMALL BUSINESSES To find your Senators' phone numbers go to the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/ At the top of the home page, click on "Elected Officials" You'll find a US map: Click on your state, Then "Senators," Then click on each Senator's name, Then click "Contact." This will give you their phone numbers. Please phone and fax them both. Please call everyone you know who is an interested party and tell them we must act immediately to prevent passage of this bill.

 

 

Dated July 30, 2008:

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/3p8x2u 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

 

 

Dated August 1, 2008:

 

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP You are cordially invited to attend THE ORPHAN WORKS ROUNDTABLE AND WEBCAST CONDUCTED BY THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION How Will the Orphan Works Bill Economically Impact Small Entities? Friday, August 8, 2008 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue (between 11th & 12th Streets) New York, NY 10003 212-255-7740 http://www.salmagundi.org Free Admission Please attend this important industry event. Let government officials hear directly from those of us who will be harmed if this bill passes. Until now, the Orphan Works bill has been driven by anti-copyright forces and special interest groups. This will be our first opportunity to be heard in a government sponsored forum devoted to the business interests of copyright holders. The Roundtable will be chaired by Tom Sullivan, Director of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration (SBA). It will give artists from the Northeast the chance to explain the impact of Orphan Works legislation on our careers and the art we create. Will the cost of compliance create an unreasonable burden on artists, writers and musicians? Will the failure to register work lead to the loss of copyrights? Why should artists be forced to supply their business data to commercial databases? Will the bill create a new business model favoring large corporations at the expense of individual artists? Will this change the nature of competition for all of us? Eighteen distinguished panelists, all from the creative community, will represent the copyright interests of illustrators, photographers, fine artists, art licensors, writers, musicians, and the collateral businesses that serve and are dependent on creators. Congress established the Office of Advocacy under Pub. L. 94-305 to represent the views of small entities before Federal agencies and Congress. Advocacy is an independent office within the Small Business Administration. This event will be webcast. PLEASE RSVP to illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com and include the names of those attending. You may review the agenda, the panelists and their biographies on the IPA blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/80808-sba-hearing-on-orphan-works.html
Dated August 4, 2008:   FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP A Reminder: You are invited to attend THE ORPHAN WORKS ROUNDTABLE CONDUCTED BY THE SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION How Will the Orphan Works Bill Economically Impact Small Entities? This Friday, August 8, 2008 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon Salmagundi Club 47 Fifth Avenue (between 11th & 12th Streets) New York, NY 10003 212-255-7740 http://www.salmagundi.org Free Admission If you live in the New York area, please attend this critical event in person. Congress established the SBA's Office of Advocacy to represent the views of people like us before Federal agencies and Congress. One of their goals is to ensure that our voices aren't lost within the lawmaking process. Your presence at this grassroots event will do much to see that our voices get heard. Until now, Orphan Works legislation has been driven by anti-copyright forces and special interest groups. Their talking points have defined the issue. That's why, if you've written lawmakers, you may have received those talking points as a response. We need to get our own views before lawmakers. We've had to go to Washington to make the case for artists. Now Washington is coming to us. We thank the SBA for agreeing to conduct this unprecedented field hearing and we thank the Salmagundi Club for offering us their space. Don't miss this opportunity to show that our industry is united in opposing the Orphan Works bill. This bill would radically change copyright law. The change would create an entirely new business model for the licensing of copyrighted work. That business model would favor large corporate image banks at the expense of individual creators. This would harm artists, photographers, songwriters, musicians, writers. It would harm the small businesses that serve and are dependent on the creative community. This is a side of the story Congressmen haven't heard so far. We need to make it part of an open, public debate. The Roundtable will be chaired by Tom Sullivan, Director of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. Eighteen distinguished panelists, all from the creative community, will represent the copyright interests of grassroots artists. This event will be webcast. PLEASE RSVP to illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com and include the names of those attending. You may review the agenda, the panelists and their biographies on the IPA blog: http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/80808-sba-hearing-on-orphan-works.html

Jeff Wong, Corel Painter artist and illustrator who works for Sports Illustrated Magazine in New York, attended the The Orphan Works Roundtable Conducted by the Small Business Administration on Friday August 8, 2008.

Yesterday, Jeff posted a message sharing some of what he learned along with a link to a page where the roundtable lecture will be available today Monday August 10, 2008.

You'll find his post # 58 on page 6 of this thread at In Depth Arts:

In case you miss it in Jeff's post, here's the link to the roundtable lecture (again, to be available Monday August 11, 2008):

 

If the link above doesn't work, here it is again: http://videos.cmitnyc.com/asip.html

That is terrible news that will deprive poets,artists,graphic novel artists and authors, and even graphic designers and independent film-makers of their hard work and future earnings! This law sounds like bad news. That means some dishonest miscreant could use the art in my sketchbooks for whatever purpose they please and get paid for it while I struggle to prove I'm the original creator that is absolute bullcrap!

Hi all copyright holders!

The e-mail copied below was sent yesterday when I was offline all day. I watched the streaming video today, and found it both interesting and informative. Though it takes a long time to load, it's worth the wait and I hope you'll all take time to watch it.

Jinny