From the Illustrators Partnership: Reply Comment to the Copyright Office

Originally posted Friday, September 18, 2015 by the Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA). The following is courtesy of IPA.

© 2015 Don Arday.

We want to thank all of you who wrote to the Copyright Office several weeks ago regarding the return of Orphan Works legislation. The Copyright Office received nearly 2,600 letters, an unprecedented response.

Nearly all are from artists protesting the draft legislation proposed to Congress in June.

To put our response in context, orphan works legislation has been based on fewer than 215 letters sent to the Copyright Office in 2005. That means our initial response trumped those total comments by a factor of 10.

The letters have been posted here: http://copyright.gov/policy/visualworks/comments/ 

Reply Comments Needed

Now the next step will be to write "reply comments." We hope everyone will take the opportunity to write again.

A "reply comment" can take any form you'd like. We'd suggest 1 of 2 ways:

1.Take one or more comments you agree with and say that you agree.

2. Take one or more comments you disagree with and explain why you disagree.

We invite you to consider endorsing the letter submitted by the Illustrators Partnership. It's key sentence reads:

"Because Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution grants authors the exclusive rights to their work, it is our understanding that those rights cannot be abridged without a constitutional amendment."

The full letter can be found in Document #1: Direct Initial Comments

It's listed alphabetically under Illustrators Partnership. 

Reply Comments are due October 1, 2015

American and foreign artists can both submit their 

letters online here.

Comments must be submitted using the comment submission form or they will not be considered part of the public record. 

Please be advised:

"The Office intends to post the written comments and documentary evidence on its website in the form in which they are received. Parties should keep in mind that any private, confidential, or personally identifiable information appearing in their comment will be accessible to the public."

Special note to foreign artists:

If you are submitting from outside the US, under "State," please scroll down to the bottom and select "Non U.S.A. Location." 

You Can Still Contribute*

For those who didn't write the first time, please don't miss the opportunity to do so now.

-- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner 

    for the Board of the Illustrators Partnership

*Addition to original IPA text by The Informed Illustrator