CALL TO ACTION: Please Write OW OPPOSITION Again NOW

For additional information CLICK HERE

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Stay tuned as there will be a scheduled anti-OW March on Washington.

The Orphan Works bill has passed the sub
committee hearings and may soon go before a full Senate vote.

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Thanks, Julia! (:

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Hello all:

More information coming soon on the Washington, DC, Senate and House of Representatives group(s) convening on Washington June 3-5th to lobby to oppose the Orphan Works bills.

The IPA, has asked us all to send postcards to our Senate and House district offices. Please forward this to as many people/lists/groups as you can.

Per Cynthia Turner and Brad Holland:

*1. The postcard can be one of your promo cards or one you draw with the message simply saying “VOTE NO on Bill S.2913” for the Senate and “VOTE NO on H.R.5889” for the House.

2. Add your contact info to the post card:

Name
e-mail address and/or website address
Phone
Your regular address, or just city/state, plus ZIP Code

3. Mail ASAP!*

They said to just keep it simple with the VOTE NO and the bill # and send to both the House and Senate.

Rather than send these to the DC offices, send them to your local and state
district offices because mail to Washington takes longer to scan and mail to
the district offices are sent by courier to DC and accepted in rather than scanned.

Go to http://capwiz.com/gag/dbq/officials and type in your zip and you
will get the contact info for your district offices for your
legislators.

The IPA wants as many of these post cards to reach the Senators and
Reps by the time they meet with them June 4th and 5th.

Additional things you can do are call your district and DC legislators
offices and voice your opinion encouraging them to vote no on the bill
and fax your letters to both the DC and district offices as well.

You can still send email letters at http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
so far over 83,000 letters have been sent from this site.

Even if you have already sent letters and made calls please send them
again! And… Please participate in this postcard mailing and get your
voices heard on the Orphan Works Bill.

Thank you so much.

We really need to get behind this, people. Don’t we have enough busywork as it is? Imagine the cost and time we would have to go to in order to register all of our images.

Thanks again for your good comment, David, and could you please send me your email address for referral to IPA and AMI regarding your Spanish translation skills and regional contacts? Thanks! Gayle

From: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Subject: An Orphan Works Update
Date: June 2, 2008 5:22:47 PM MDT (CA)
To: IPA.IV

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

JUNE 2, 2008 An Orphan Works Update
Backers of the House version of the Orphan Works bill are now asking artists and photographers to oppose the Senate bill unless it’s amended to contain at least the “minimum provisions” that appear in the House version.

Although they don’t say so, opposing the Senate bill in this manner is a vote FOR the House bill.

We’ve been asked to explain why:
The Senate bill is similar to the bill we opposed in 2006. The House bill (H.R. 5889) is the result of a year and a half of closed door negotiations between Congress and representatives and lobbyists for special interest groups. These groups have agreed to either endorse the House bill or remain neutral to insure its passage.

The House bill endorses the concept of coerced “voluntary” registration with commercial databases and seeks to make these databases infringer-friendly.

– It would require infringers to file a simple “notice of use” before they infringe.

– It calls for an archive of the notices to be maintained by the Copyright Office or an approved third party.

Why do backers of the House bill want these databases to be infringer-friendly?
Because to thrive, commercial databases (registries) will have to do a robust business in rights-clearing and orphan certification. That means encouraging infringers to infringe.

How will these registries work? No details have been given, but experience with image banks suggests the following:

For unregistered work: infringers will use the registries to identify pictures that aren’t registered. Infringers will probably pay the registry a search fee, then use or market the “orphans” like royalty-free art.

For registered work: the registries will act as a kind of stock house: Users will go to them for one-stop shopping to clear rights to your pictures. The registry will probably charge you a commission when they do.

In other words, urging Congress to pass the House bill makes very little sense to us unless your business or organization expects to become a commercial registry. We believe the only way to oppose these bills is to oppose them both.

If you agree, now’s the time to write Congress or write again.

You can urge Congress to oppose these bills by linking here to a special letter.
Tell Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose the Orphan Works Act at:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11442621

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.

From: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Subject: The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public
Date: June 3, 2008 8:27:23 AM MDT (CA)
To: IPA.IV

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

The Orphan Works Act: Warning to the Public

Should the general public care about the Orphan Works Act?
Yes, because the effects of this bill will expose any citizen’s visual images to infringement, including infringement for commercial purposes or distasteful uses.

Most people don’t understand current copyright law. But under current law, they don’t have to – the law itself protects them from not understanding it. Anything you create is considered your private property.

But under this amendment, all citizens would be required to understand that they must now take active steps – not to actually protect their work (because registries won’t protect it) – but merely to preserve their right to sue an infringer in federal court (in case they ever find out they’ve been infringed in the first place).

Otherwise, ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a “reasonably diligent search” for a photo he found on a blog, photo sharing site, Facebook page, or other source.

Proposal for Copyright Warning and Public Awareness Campaign
If this bill is passed, copyright will no longer be considered the exclusive right of the creator. Therefore, Congress should direct the Copyright Office to commence an awareness campaign to be conducted in all media, explaining to all copyright holders the new terms of copyright protection. Public warnings should state at least the following:

“Due to a change in US copyright law, citizens should now be aware that any creative expression they put into tangible form – from professional artwork to family photos – will be subject to infringement, including infringement for commercial uses, by anyone in the United States who is unable to locate them by what the infringer determines – and a court agrees – to be a reasonably diligent search.

“To preserve your right to sue infringers in federal court, you are advised to take active steps to assert authorship of every work you create.

“These steps will include inserting meta-data in each work, marking each work with a copyright symbol and contact information and registering each work in commercial databases where infringers can search for your work.

“Ignorance of copyright law will be be no excuse against an infringer who has done a “reasonably diligent search” according to guidelines established by Congress.”

This should be the minimum warning information and it should be issued to the public on an on-going basis to alert successive generations of the legal obligations they will have to observe as the price of creating art of any kind. We also ask Congress to direct the Copyright Office to establish and maintain local law clinics where creators and other citizens can seek clarification about their obligations under Orphan Works law.

Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work

You can urge Congress to oppose these bills by linking here to a special letter.
Tell Your Senators and Representatives to Oppose the Orphan Works Act at:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11442621

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.
____________________

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According to what I´ve seen on www.govtrack.us the Senate bill has been sent over to the judiciary committee, probably to see how “legal” the current proposal is, or how it could be made “legal”. Just think of all those poor “orphans” out there looking for daddy.

Anybody have the latest on this lame bill?

Yeah, it’s scary isn’t it? I have heard off the record that our opposition is now being considered due to
IPA’s recent trip to Washington and because of all of our petition signatures (thank you, too, Steve!):

A Million People Against the Orphan Works Bill
http://www.petitiononline.com/Stop2913/petition.html

David, I thank you so much for your persistence and your posts. I also received your PM and will respond
ASAP as soon as I hear. There has been no Press Release yet as I was told there would be, and this is hopefully
most likely due to behind-closed-doors negotiations. I will persist however, and I thank you again for your great
help.

This is the lastest from IPA:

From: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Subject: An Orphan Works Solution
Date: June 21, 2008 10:09:36 PM MDT (CA)
To: IPA.IV

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

An Orphan Works Solution

We have a proposal to solve the Orphan Works issue. It would let libraries and archives digitize their collections
and let individuals duplicate family photos without fear of massive infringement penalties. These are the two needs
most commonly cited by the bills’ sponsors and they can be resolved quite simply. Our proposal would limit the bill’s
effects to works that are really orphans, with no unnecessary spillover effect to damage the commercial activities of
working copyright holders.

Digitizing the Collections of Libraries and Museums

Digitizing someone’s work is an act of reproduction and is therefore subject to the authorization of the copyright
holder. But to let accredited libraries and archives bypass these authorizations, the law could grant them certain exceptions to reproduce works without the prior consent of the rights holders, mainly for preservation purposes.

To avail themselves of this privilege, institutions could file a notice of intent to infringe with the Copyright
Office, documenting that they’ve made a reasonably diligent, but unsuccessful effort to find the copyright holder.
These exceptions should not be extended to cover reproductions on a mass scale, because that would clearly conflict
with the artists’ own exploitation of their works and that would prejudice the legitimate interests of the copyright holders, a clear violation of the 1976 Copyright Act, the Berne Convention and Article 13 of the TRIPS agreement,
to which the US is a signatory.

This proposal is consistent with the submission of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations
(IFRRO) to the European Union’s i2010 Digital Libraries project. See our 2006 report on this: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00195 This means our proposal would meet the
needs of libraries, museums and archives, harmonize US policy with our trading partners overseas and win wide praise
from the creative community in the US, who would not see the rights of their own work put at risk.

Solving the Grandma Issue

We believe similar orphan works situations – family photo restoration and duplication, personal genealogy usage of
orphan works, and orphan works rights clearance for documentary filmmakers – can all be resolved in a similar manner,
by carefully and precisely expanding Fair Use to permit limited individual infringements under contractual agreements.

For example, family photo issues could be resolved by means of a simple contract: the person who wishes to duplicate or restore a photo of Grandma could sign an easy-to-understand agreement (with either companies such as Wal-Mart
or with the photographer next door), stipulating that they’ve made a reasonably diligent, but unsuccessful search to
identify or
locate the photographer of record. By doing so, they’d qualify for a precise limited copyright exemption to restore or duplicate the work for home and/or family use only. Under this scenario, it the photographer of record subsequently
shows up, the contract would define the specific remedies.

The case of an individual who wishes to duplicate his or her own family photos would be even simpler to deal with: the individual would simply sign a form stipulating that he/she is the author and copyright holder of the photo – period.
Any bad-faith assertions or violations of such agreements could then be dealt with as a contractual matter between
individual parties, with no unnecessary damage to the rights of others.

A Limited, Workable Solution

We believe this kind of contractual solution to individual orphan works problems would have two virtues:

1. It would create certainty by specifying the terms of each transaction and would, in fact, mirror the

kind of indemnification that professional artists and photographers routinely supply to clients, stipulating
that our work is original and doesn’t infringe the rights of others.

2. It would have the additional virtue of requiring that only those who avail themselves of the right to

infringe would be required to understand the complexities of copyright law, unlike the present bill, which
would require all citizens to familiarize themselves with the risks and obligations inherent in the proposed
Orphan Works Acts.

3. It would not legalize the infringement of billions of managed copyrights on the grounds that some of

them might be orphans.

We believe solutions like this could be arrived at amicably by working with members of the creative community,
who are familiar with how copyright law intersects with standard business practice. This kind of imaginative
solution should win widespread praise from all parties, while preserving the sanctity of existing copyright-related contracts. It would protect the small businesses that are the heart and soul of the creative community and would
continue to act as an on-going incentive to further the creation of new work.

—Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership

Don’t Let Congress Orphan Your Work
Please post or forward this message in its entirety to any interested party.

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:
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.

—- A MILLION PEOPLE AGAINST THE ORPHAN WORKS BILL!!!!

SIGN HERE

rom: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com
Subject: International Confederation Condemns U.S. Orphan Works Act
Date: July 2, 2008 4:34:13 AM MDT (CA)
To: ghegland@centurytel.net
Reply-To: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com

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

• 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.