A Call to Action
If you saw a diamond ring laying on the sidewalk, you might wonder about it. You might wonder if the owner is a neighbor, and do they know it's missing? You might ask some local shops if anyone had lost a ring, or turn it in and wait for someone to claim it.
But you'd know one thing immediately; you'd know it isn't yours.
The Orphaned Works legislation (HR 5889 and S 2913) is designed to promote the "finders-keepers" mentality, and penalize artists whose works are good enough to steal. Not to mention creating a whole new level of government paper pushers who take money from artists, "just in case".
Under this new legislation if someone does a "reasonable search" for the original artist of a work, there's zero to minimal penalty for using the work. Kind of like looking both ways down the street before pocketing a lost diamond ring.
Under the new bill, every artist, amateur to pro, has to register--for a fee--every single sketch, mockup, model, variation and preliminary design or description of a work. Just In Case. Not even knowing if the work will ever sell or be shown.
Another unintended consequence of this bill would be to virtually wipe out Open Source and Creative Commons personal use art on the web; like for collages and school projects. Artists now provide these source works at little personal cost, for the good of the many. Registering all variations of a work would make the cost too prohibitive.
Publishing without paying the official registry, means plagiarists could simply decide it's "orphaned". And -THEY- could register the design! The original artist would have no claim to their own work.
You can stop this flagrant disregard for personal and artistic rights in less than 5 minutes;
the links below provide a form letter and zip code database, even if you don't know your rep.
email your Senator NOW:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389061
email your Congressman NOW
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389081
If you want to know more, check out this site:
http://www.owoh.org/
But you'd know one thing immediately; you'd know it isn't yours.
The Orphaned Works legislation (HR 5889 and S 2913) is designed to promote the "finders-keepers" mentality, and penalize artists whose works are good enough to steal. Not to mention creating a whole new level of government paper pushers who take money from artists, "just in case".
Under this new legislation if someone does a "reasonable search" for the original artist of a work, there's zero to minimal penalty for using the work. Kind of like looking both ways down the street before pocketing a lost diamond ring.
Under the new bill, every artist, amateur to pro, has to register--for a fee--every single sketch, mockup, model, variation and preliminary design or description of a work. Just In Case. Not even knowing if the work will ever sell or be shown.
Another unintended consequence of this bill would be to virtually wipe out Open Source and Creative Commons personal use art on the web; like for collages and school projects. Artists now provide these source works at little personal cost, for the good of the many. Registering all variations of a work would make the cost too prohibitive.
Publishing without paying the official registry, means plagiarists could simply decide it's "orphaned". And -THEY- could register the design! The original artist would have no claim to their own work.
You can stop this flagrant disregard for personal and artistic rights in less than 5 minutes;
the links below provide a form letter and zip code database, even if you don't know your rep.
email your Senator NOW:
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389061
email your Congressman NOW
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11389081
If you want to know more, check out this site:
http://www.owoh.org/
posted by dawntheartist at 2:57 AM
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