Orphan Works Act – who should own your work

It is truly amazing what technology brings to our society – and like all technological possibilities out there, it is up to the public to determine what applications are acceptable.

It was recently brought to my attention that the Orphan Works act is once again being brought up before the House and the Senate. On March 13, PicScout demonstrated their capabilities to the House IP subcommittee. They propose a solution to the “problems” that blocked the first attempt to pass the bill in 2006 with their image registration software.

“Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image – such as a single face of one person in a crowd, with 99% success… Over the years, we have established relationships with our partners and now track the use of millions of digital files stored in our huge centralized database.” – Source: Illustrators Partnership article “How Registries Will Orphan Your Work”

PicScout’s technology is currently used to search image databases such as GettyImages and Corbis - stock photography resources that many commercial designers use every day. However, a 99% match on an image for such an important search does not seem to me to be a viable solution – even if I did agree on the need to register something which we already own the rights to (the 1976 copyright law granted copyright to the creator of any work at the moment of creation).

If this bill passes into law, any type of image that is created – including family pictures, fine art, commercial art and photography – will be subject to registration. If not registered (or if registered and simply not found in the database due to software limitation) the work will be “orphaned”. The work’s creator would then no longer own their work.

Now, while large corporations (such as Disney) will have no problem with this process, what about the independent artists, small businesses, and even the family on vacation with the digital camera? Will you be able, and willing, to pay to register every image you own simply to retain ownership that was already yours… and still risk losing that registered ownership due to a software limitation?

What can we do?

The Illustrator’s Partnership has set up an online site for visual artists to e-mail their Senators and Representatives with one click.

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP

This site is open to professional artists, photographers, and any member of the image-making public and provides sample letters from individuals representing different sectors of the visual arts. Tens of thousands of letters have gone out already from our Orphan Works advocacy site.

1. Write the House Judiciary Committee. We’ve set up a special alert to contact members of this important committee. Go to our Take Action/Alert site: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership Look for the sample letter labeled “Contact House Judiciary Committee NOW” and send it. If your Representative is not a member of the House Judiciary Committee, this will send him a message asking him to contact his colleagues on that Committee on your behalf, urging them to oppose the bill.
2. Ask for support from family and friends: Please ask your friends and family (5 to 10 others) who support your creative work to also go to the site. They can follow the instructions to easily send a message of opposition to this reckless bill. Look for the sample letter labeled “For Supporters of Visual Artists – Wrong to Weaken Copyright Law” and send it.
3. Spread the word to the public: Photosharing on Web will now be at risk: Please alert your friends who post photos to the web their personal property will be at risk. Look for the sample letter labeled “For the Image-Making Public – Protect Personal Property” and send it.

For more information about the Orphan Works Act of 2008:

• IPA Statement to House Subcommittee March 20, 2008
  
• IPA Senate Mark-up Comments April 30, 2008
• Geneva, May 7, 2008 Orphan Works Bill Catches Global Attention -Intellectual Property Watch
  
• MP3 Interview
• Orphan Works on YouTube

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Studio News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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