Urgent: Orphan Works Letters Due July 23: Protect Your Ownership of Copyright

Originally posted Wednesday, July 1, 2015 by the Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA). The following is courtesy of IPA.

The Return of Orphan Works Part 1: The Next Great Copyright Act

For more than a year Congress has been holding hearings for the drafting of a brand new US Copyright Act. At its heart is the return of Orphan Works.

© 2015 Don Arday.

Twice, Orphan Works Acts have failed to pass Congress because of strong opposition from visual artists, spearheaded by the Illustrators Partnership.

Because of this, the Copyright Office has now issued a special call for letters regarding the role of visual art in the coming legislation.

Therefore we're asking all artists concerned with retaining the rights to their work to join us in writing.  

Deadline: July 23, 2015

You can submit letters online to the Copyright Office here.
Read the Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry.
Read the 2015 Orphan Works and Mass Digitization Report.

Here are the Basic Facts

•  "The Next Great Copyright Act" would replace all existing copyright law.
•  It would void our Constitutional right to the exclusive control of our work.
•  It would "privilege" the public's right to use our work.
•  It would "pressure" you to register your work with commercial registries.
•  It would "orphan" unregistered work.
•  It would make orphaned work available for commercial infringement by "good faith" infringers.
•  It would allow others to alter your work and copyright these "derivative works" in their own names.
•  It would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign.

The Demand for Copyright "Reform" 

The demand for copyright "reform" has come from large Internet firms and the legal scholars allied with them. Their business models involve supplying the public with access to other people's copyrighted work. Their problem has been how to do this legally and without paying artists.

The "reforms" they've proposed would allow them to stock their databases with our pictures. This would happen either by forcing us to hand over our images to them as registered works, or by harvesting unregistered works as orphans and copyrighting them in their own names as "derivative works."

The Copyright Office acknowledges that this will cause special problems for visual artists but concludes that we should still be subject to orphan works law.

The "Next Great Copyright Act" would go further than previous Orphan Works Acts. The proposals under consideration include:

1.) The Mass Digitization of our intellectual property by corporate interests.
2.) Extended Collective Licensing, a form of socialized licensing that would replace voluntary business agreements between artists and their clients.
3.) A Copyright Small Claims Court to handle the flood of lawsuits expected to result from orphan works infringements.

In Your Letter to the Copyright Office 

It's important that lawmakers be told that our copyrights are our source of income because lobbyists and corporation lawyers have "testified" that once our work has been published it has virtually no further commercial value and should therefore be available for use by the public.

So when writing, please remember:

•  It's important that you make your letter personal and truthful.

•  Keep it professional and respectful.

•  Explain that you're an artist and have been one for x number of years.

•  Briefly list your educational background, publications, awards, etc. 

•  Indicate the field(s) you work in.

•  Explain clearly and forcefully that for you, copyright law is not an abstract legal issue, but the basis on which your business rests.

•  Our copyrights are the products we license.

•  This means that infringing our work is like stealing our money.

•  It's important to our businesses that we remain able to determine voluntarily how and by whom our work is used.

•  Stress that your work does NOT lose its value upon publication.

•  Instead everything you create becomes part of your business inventory.

•  In the digital era, inventory is more valuable to artists than ever before.

If You are NOT a Professional Artist

•  Define your specific interest in copyright, and give a few relevant details.

•  You might want to stress that it's important to you that you determine how and by whom your work is used.

•  You might wish to state that even if you're a hobbyist, you would not welcome someone else monetizing your work for their own profit without your knowledge or consent.

-- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner 

    for the Board of the Illustrators Partnership

The Illustrators Partnership has filed multiple papers with the Copyright Office regarding this issue. You can download them from the Copyright Office website:

Remedies for Small Copyright Claims 
January 17, 2012

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization 
Initial Comments February 3, 2013

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization 
Reply Comments, March 6, 2013

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization  Additional Comments, May 21, 2014

POSTED BY ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP OF AMERICA AT 9:49 PM0 COMMENTS 

LABELS: ARTISTS RIGHTS, COPYRIGHT, COPYRIGHT ACT, COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, COPYRIGHT OFFICE, COPYRIGHT OFFICE ORPHAN WORKS,COPYRIGHT REFORM, ORPHAN WORKS

Artists Alert: From the Illustrators Partnership -- The Return of Orphan Works

Originally distributed July 16, 2015 by the Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA). The following has been provided by IPA.

Part 2: Artists' Letters   

Two weeks ago, we warned that Congress is drafting a new US Copyright Act.

© 2015 Don Arday.

The new recommendations would resurrect the failed Orphan Works Act of 2008. But there are new proposals that go far beyond Orphan Works.

The Copyright Office says that these artists' issues are also "ripe" for legislation: copyright small claims, resale royalties, and other forms of secondary licensing which most artists have never heard of.

Many of you have already written. We hope many more will do the same.

The Deadline is TOMORROW THURSDAY: July 23, 2015

American artists can submit their letters online here.

Non-U.S. artists can email their letters to the attention of:

Catherine Rowland

Senior Advisor to the Register of Copyrights

U.S. Copyright Office

crowland@loc.gov

Read the Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry.

Read the 2015 Orphan Works and Mass Digitization Report.

Please Write the Copyright Office

Because of our past opposition to orphan works legislation, the Copyright Office has issued a special Notice of Inquiry on Visual Works. In it, they acknowledge that visual artists face special problems in the marketplace and they've asked artists to respond to five questions:

1) What are the most significant challenges related to monetizing and/or licensing photographs, graphic artworks, and/or illustrations?

2) What are the most significant enforcement challenges for photographers, graphic artists, and/or illustrators?

3) What are the most significant registration challenges for photographers, graphic artists, and/or illustrators?

4) What are the most significant challenges or frustrations for those who wish to make legal use of photographs, graphic art works, and/or illustrations?

5) What other issues or challenges should the Office be aware of regarding photographs, graphic artworks, and/or illustrations under the Copyright Act?

And we might suggest a 6th question of our own: 

6) What are the most significant challenges artists would face if these new copyright proposals become law?

Examples of Letters

Since most artists have never written to lawmakers before, many of you have asked us for sample letters.It is important that the Copyright Office receive unique letters.

Eight artists have provided their letters to inspire you to write. The letters are poignant examples written respectfully by artists telling their own unique story about their experience and concerns:

Letter 1: "I'm writing to stress that for me, and for artists like me, copyright law is not an abstract legal issue. Our copyrights are our assets. Licensing them is how we make our livings." Read more.

Letter 2: "As a freelance illustrator, I need to maintain revenue streams in order to make a living for my family. The resale of my past images is part of my day to day way of doing business." Read more.

Letter 3:  "My art is reasonably well known since it has served the advertising, editorial, public relations and historical documentation needs of the aerospace industry, publications, the military services and air and space museums for 68 years." Read more.

Letter 4: "I am writing to you as an award winning professional illustrator of over 40 years whose work has appeared in many major publications, books and advertisements, both nationally and internationally." Read more.

Letter 5: "I have been a professional medical illustrator since 1975, and self-employed since 1981. During the course of my career, I have created thousands of illustrations..." Read more.

Letter 6: "Copyright is the basis of my income and ability to support my business. It is the only way I have to protect the accuracy and integrity of my work, and to negotiate an appropriate fee for re-licensing." Read more.

Letter 7: "My specialty area is fetal development and women's health illustration...The protection of these images is of utmost importance to my livelihood, and I have struggled to fight the rampant piracy of them, especially by political groups." Read more.

Letter 8: "I am writing to ask that you create policy to protect visual authors and their exclusive rights, and support a sustainable environment for professional authorship. Read more. 

Remember no one is asking you to write a legal brief. Copyright law is a business law, and the lawyers writing these laws know little or nothing about our business.   

Let's explain to them how the laws they're writing will affect us.

- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner 

  for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership

Urgent Orphan Works Alert

Originally posted Wednesday, July 1, 2015 by the Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA). The following is courtesy of IPA.

The Return of Orphan Works Part 1: The Next Great Copyright Act

For more than a year Congress has been holding hearings for the drafting of a brand new US Copyright Act. At its heart is the return of Orphan Works.

© 2015 Don Arday.

Twice, Orphan Works Acts have failed to pass Congress because of strong opposition from visual artists, spearheaded by the Illustrators Partnership.

Because of this, the Copyright Office has now issued a special call for letters regarding the role of visual art in the coming legislation.

Therefore we're asking all artists concerned with retaining the rights to their work to join us in writing.  

Deadline: July 23, 2015

You can submit letters online to the Copyright Office here.
Read the Copyright Office Notice of Inquiry.
Read the 2015 Orphan Works and Mass Digitization Report.

Here are the Basic Facts

•  "The Next Great Copyright Act" would replace all existing copyright law.
•  It would void our Constitutional right to the exclusive control of our work.
•  It would "privilege" the public's right to use our work.
•  It would "pressure" you to register your work with commercial registries.
•  It would "orphan" unregistered work.
•  It would make orphaned work available for commercial infringement by "good faith" infringers.
•  It would allow others to alter your work and copyright these "derivative works" in their own names.
•  It would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign.

The Demand for Copyright "Reform" 

The demand for copyright "reform" has come from large Internet firms and the legal scholars allied with them. Their business models involve supplying the public with access to other people's copyrighted work. Their problem has been how to do this legally and without paying artists.

The "reforms" they've proposed would allow them to stock their databases with our pictures. This would happen either by forcing us to hand over our images to them as registered works, or by harvesting unregistered works as orphans and copyrighting them in their own names as "derivative works."

The Copyright Office acknowledges that this will cause special problems for visual artists but concludes that we should still be subject to orphan works law.

The "Next Great Copyright Act" would go further than previous Orphan Works Acts. The proposals under consideration include:

1.) The Mass Digitization of our intellectual property by corporate interests.
2.) Extended Collective Licensing, a form of socialized licensing that would replace voluntary business agreements between artists and their clients.
3.) A Copyright Small Claims Court to handle the flood of lawsuits expected to result from orphan works infringements.

In Your Letter to the Copyright Office 

It's important that lawmakers be told that our copyrights are our source of income because lobbyists and corporation lawyers have "testified" that once our work has been published it has virtually no further commercial value and should therefore be available for use by the public.

So when writing, please remember:

•  It's important that you make your letter personal and truthful.

•  Keep it professional and respectful.

•  Explain that you're an artist and have been one for x number of years.

•  Briefly list your educational background, publications, awards, etc. 

•  Indicate the field(s) you work in.

•  Explain clearly and forcefully that for you, copyright law is not an abstract legal issue, but the basis on which your business rests.

•  Our copyrights are the products we license.

•  This means that infringing our work is like stealing our money.

•  It's important to our businesses that we remain able to determine voluntarily how and by whom our work is used.

•  Stress that your work does NOT lose its value upon publication.

•  Instead everything you create becomes part of your business inventory.

•  In the digital era, inventory is more valuable to artists than ever before.

If You are NOT a Professional Artist

•  Define your specific interest in copyright, and give a few relevant details.

•  You might want to stress that it's important to you that you determine how and by whom your work is used.

•  You might wish to state that even if you're a hobbyist, you would not welcome someone else monetizing your work for their own profit without your knowledge or consent.

-- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner 

    for the Board of the Illustrators Partnership

The Illustrators Partnership has filed multiple papers with the Copyright Office regarding this issue. You can download them from the Copyright Office website:

Remedies for Small Copyright Claims 
January 17, 2012

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization 
Initial Comments February 3, 2013

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization 
Reply Comments, March 6, 2013

Orphan Works and Mass Digitization  Additional Comments, May 21, 2014

POSTED BY ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP OF AMERICA AT 9:49 PM0 COMMENTS 

LABELS: ARTISTS RIGHTS, COPYRIGHT, COPYRIGHT ACT, COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT, COPYRIGHT OFFICE, COPYRIGHT OFFICE ORPHAN WORKS,COPYRIGHT REFORM, ORPHAN WORKS