Orphan Works

[dodolah]

Hey All, I hope this is alright to be said in here (the off topic discussion).
I realize there are fellow artists and photographers in here that might be affected by this.

Under the current copyright law, any work, photo, or video that you created is protected by the government at the moment of creation (regardless whether the nature of the work is commercial or not).

But, soon, it will be changed by this legislation.
Now, you are required to register ANY work that you made (with a fee) to a not yet existing government organization (not the usual library of congress).

so, in order for you to claim your work to be yours, you have to pay the government and proof that it is made by you. Otherwise, anybody can take your past works, take your name off it, and sell it as their own without worrying to get sued by you.

This is a bit of examples on how it might affect you:
Let say that you took a picture of your chameleon in the past, the pic has been floating around (in the internet. i.e.) -you haven't registered the photo to the government or you can't prove that the photo was made by you since your chameleon has passed away.
A commercial entity can take your pic, and put it on their product and benefit from it without having to contact you, ask for your permission, or reimburse you.
In fact, they can register your photo under their name (since any photos or works that are not registered is considered free game for everybody).
So, you can be sued by the company if you use your own photo in your work.

Also check this out, there is also statute of limitation for your works.
Let say somebody steal your works and made money from it. If you have not done anything about it for certain amount of time (regardless whether you know that your work has been infringed or not), they are free to use your works.


There are articles listed there for you to read or
just listen to the interview if you don't feel like reading.

http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan/Alex Saviuk orphan works interview.mp3

Thanks.

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

yeah, this is going to change a lot of things for artist and creatives of all sorts.
I've had to deal with copyright infringement before and it can get ugly
This will only make it uglier and much more expensive to preserve anything created.

now only the BIG players can afford to handle all the registration of their works
while at the same time hijacking the original works of others
that either haven't registered their "doodlings" or can't afford fight the lawyers.
and this is after the sonny bono copyright extension law that extended and protected
the copyright of big name established interests for 70 years after the death of the creator...
Corporate owned work gets 120 years!!!!

another case of screwing the little guy in the favor of chummy guys in the backrooms.

 

[dodolah]

i honestly doubt that this legislation will pass.
Remember the era where everything is secret? You don't even know how those movies, animations, and paintings are created.

Now, with web, a lot of great resources that educate the potential artists are available (something like "the making of ----").
We get that comfortable because we know that our rights are protected.
If this legislation pass, everything will shut down and back to era of secrecy again.

What a shame.

 

[dodolah]

i honestly doubt that this legislation will pass.
Remember the era where everything is secret? You don't even know how those movies, animations, and paintings are created.

Now, with web, a lot of great resources that educate the potential artists are available (something like "the making of ----").
We get that comfortable because we know that our rights are protected.
If this legislation pass, everything will shut down and back to era of secrecy again.

What a shame.

Whoa... I was WAYYYY off.
Just found out in an automated email response by US Senator (since I wrote her a letter to oppose this bill) that the legislation has passed unanimously in may 15, 2008.

 

[ChrisnLisa]

I am LIVID right now! What kind of a-holes would pass such a thing!?!? I am an artist myself and this is messed up. I don't even know what to say right now. The government needs to stop sticking their noses in places where it doesn't belong!!!!!

 

[dodolah]

for now, don't post anymore of your works on the internet.

Everything is back to hush hush again.
Once the law enforced, I guess the only thing left is simultaneous strike by all visual artists.
like that's going to happen

But, who know? i might be wrong... i was wrong be4.