ORPHAN WORKS ACT OF 2008 - PLEASE READ

[hellomynameis]

this affects EVERYONE who does ANYTHING visually creative; anyone who's ever posted a photo, sketched something, whatever.

The Orphan Works Act of 2008, a reconstruction of copyright law, will be voted on within the next month. Here is what it is and how it affects you as an artist:

-current copyright law protects anything you create, registered or not.

-the Orphan Works Act will require you to register any work you produce, from a doodle on a napkin to work displayed in a gallery. This means you must pay in order to reserve the rights to your artwork.

-artists must register work in a database that is to be created by the public in order to control infringement of their work. Any unregistered work is up for grabs to be used by anyone for any reason. With no limit on how many registries can be created and no set number on how many must be searched in order know if a work is registered, your work can legally be stolen by any individual or organization/corporation.

Here are some links:

to view the current copyright law and available literature on the Ophan Works Act:
U.S. Copyright Office - Copyright Law of the United States
U.S. Copyright Office - Orphan Works

the Illustrator's Partnership website--a group fighting the bill:
IPA - ORPHAN WORKS RESOURCE PAGE FOR ARTISTS
A very informative podcast, explaining some of the finer points of the bill:
IPA - Events Archive

and here's where you can email your local congressmen/women:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/

here's a link with Congress contact information (phone/fax number and email) for every state:
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/

for phone/fax/office address for congressmen/women in a specific area code:
Congress.org Home

Please send this to everyone you know to raise awareness and take action.

[Shiba-Kun]

One thread about this is enough.