| | I got this article in DeviantArt ... I think all of us should be aware of this..
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OUR ART IN POTENTIAL RISK!
Journal Entry: Sun Apr 13, 2008, 2:11 AM
by liberti of DeviantART (http://liberti.deviantart.com/journal/17810659/)
I have just caught wind of the Orphaned Works bill being presented in
the US. And this concerns EVERYONE. I quote Mark Simon on his take
concerning this issue.
An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or
copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by
passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way
that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your
creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your
permission.
Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the
copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something.
International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows
you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.
What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes
THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make
use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies
who will run the new private copyright registries.
These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order
to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work.
It is currently against international law to coerce people to register
their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems
with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United
States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world,
again, and take your rights away.
With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each
year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would
be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else
makes money at our expense.
This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video,
song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk!
If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives
will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to
everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it
with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of
the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that
someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully
call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.
As if artist protection isn't fuzzy enough. And for friends who are not based in the US. THINK ABOUT THIS.
Photos on the internet could be orphaned. With tens of millions of
photos shared online with services like Flickr, Shutterfly and
Snapfish, there is a huge opportunity for unauthorized use of your
photos... legally.
edit: Even if we don't live there, we're going to get hit VERY HARD.
Your pictures, your vectors, your stocks, your paintings, your songs
and writings... anyone can take credit for them under the impression
that your works are unregistered, hence ORPHANED. Regardless where you
come from, it will be a difficult and costly argument as to define what
are your rights as a creator and the rights of anyone on American soil
to make use of what you make.
This legalizes theft. Not just theft of your work but possibly even
your very identity. And your ability to protect yourself..... well..
WHAT ABILITY? Legally you can't accost anyone if they do take whatever
you make.
And if it does push through, what's the sure fire way to protect
ourselves? WHAT? DON'T POST? Are we going to allow ourselves to shun
our right to expression because of this?
The people behind the bill say it's not forced registration, but you
won't have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of
course, this is forced registration and we can't stand for it!
AGAIN GUYS. LETS VOICE OUR OPINIONS ON THE MATTER. Everything you make,
everything you placed your heart and soul on deserves to stay yours!
http://www.petitiononline.com/dAvsOW/petition.html << ONLINE PETITION
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The full article by By Mark Simon of Animation World Magazine
http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Columns&column=MindBiz&article_no=3605
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I think we too will be affected greatly if this bill will be enacted as a law. |
| | Posted 4/13/2008 3:00 PM - 29 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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