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/illustrators partnership/ 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.
