Brenda Pinnick -news, ideas, events and more...

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for updates on Orphan Works Legislation...

Please go here to read the "talking points" of the bill's backers, written by Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership

It's so important to keep up the fight to veto this. I'm addressing the crafting industry today because
a. my readers are crafters,
b. My main income is currently derived from this industry
c. The crafting industry is a 3 billion dollar a year industry and
d. This sector of consumer goods is particularly at risk due to the nature of our products, that is, products that get used by secondary creators for derivitive works which often are published electronically on various blogs, galleries, forums and websites.

Artists who create for the crafting industry generally license their art for use on specific products as an exclusive deal. This exclusivity is demanded by manufacturers and very often by their customers, the big box retail stores. These licenses are usually for a set period of time, a set geographic territory and for specific products.

The development costs that manufacturers invest is tremendous. This is why licensing is such an advantage to them, they don't have to hire in-house people which is very expensive to do and limits the styles of art that they can offer their customers. And, this set up works great for artists, too, provided they have protection for their art. It enables them to license the same butterfly for stamps to mfr. A, for fabric for manufacturer B, etc. One thing most people don't realize is that even the most successful artists create way more art than actually ever makes it to finished product. The "process" of getting it sold includes "mock-ups" of the finished product, often left in the hands of the buyers for purposes of building their marketing strategies and plan-o-grams.

Often times, there will be many versions made, some incorporating different background patterns, different colorations, etc. This process can take a year or even longer. Buyer's come and go, packaging gets changed out, names get left off, etc. It happens.

There have been recent and ongoing instances of blatant infringement by two of the largest retailers who rather than buy the product from a manufacturer, they took the mockups directly to China and THEY had them manufactured, with no attribution or compensation given to the designer or his/her licensee. Meanwhile, the giant retailer has decided that not only do they want to produce the original product, they also make their own homegoods such as sheets, rugs and coffee mugs and they decide to move forward using the art on these additional product categories. Meanwhile, the licensing artist has entered into an exclusive contract with another homegoods manufacturer who sells to another big box store, not knowing of the infringement because it hasn't hit the stores yet. This new manufacturer invests heavily into bringing these goods to market. Production is done, the goods are on a boat, and it's a done deal.

Now the art starts showing up in that original big box store, all over the store as a matter of fact. It's on poorly made china, cheap tee shirts and towels, too.

What are the damages here?
1. The loss of income to the artist
2. the reputation of the artist as a reputable business partner.
3. The potential income lost because now that the art is in the marketplace, no one else will touch it for the same categories of products
4. The art has been used on cheap product, damaging the value of the brand
5. Time and resources of the artist, she paid her lawyer over $1000. to negotiate the contract
6. The damage to the reputation of the second mfr. in the eyes of their customers
7. The huge amount of money it took to bring this product to market, damaging the bottom line of the manufacturers business.
8. The customer who bought the product because they trusted the brand to be used only on quality goods. ....it goes on and on.

And, if this isn't bad enough...
from Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators’ Partnership;

The Orphan Works bill contains a terrible new provision that gives an infringer exclusive rights to the entirety of an orphaned work if the infringer uses that work in a “derivative work.” A derivative work is one made by incorporating the work of others.

House negotiators have removed the requirement that infringed art be used in a derivative that contains substantial original expression. This means an infringer could now simply crop or desaturate your work, then use it again with complete immunity from prosecution. Here’s how the law would change:

Under current copyright law, you have exclusive rights to the original work you create. This includes the right to prepare new, derivative works from your old works, or to authorize (or refuse to authorize) others to do so. If someone creates a derivative work by infringing yours, current law doesn’t entitle them to copyright protection. Here’s what the current law says:

103(a) The subject matter of copyright as specified by section 102 includes compilations and derivative works, but protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully. http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode17/usc_sec_17_00000103----000-.html#a

But under the Orphan Works amendment, an infringer could now confiscate this exclusive right - not by creating a substantially new work – but simply by infringing yours. The infringer would receive full copyright protection. Here’s what the bill says:

‘‘(d) COPYRIGHT FOR DERIVATIVE WORKS. —Notwithstanding section 103(a), the infringing use of a work in accordance with this section shall not limit or affect the copyright protection for a work that uses the infringed work.’’ http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00214

This measure will have far reaching implications. For example, it will undermine your ability to negotiate exclusive rights with clients –particularly buyouts for advertising or institutional clients - because neither party in a business transaction can guarantee exclusivity.

It will also let opportunists capture the full rights to existing work. Stockhouses, for example could harvest “orphan” works, modify the work slightly and claim it as their own. These “derivative works” would then become the wholly-owned, fully-protected copyrighted work of the stockhouse.

And free culture advocates could now appropriate orphaned work and embed it with the viral Creative Commons share-alike license. See Orphaned Art and a Copyright Virus, http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00190

This provision has been expanded from the original Copyright Office proposal. It was added during closed door negotiations. Put it at the head of your list of things that are wrong with this entire Orphan Works project.

How will an artist who creates rubber stamp art or art for die cutting machines, or does lettering art for stickers ever be able to continue working in the crafting industry? None of these items can possibly carry copyright info and if/when the searchable databases ever get put in place, how many versions are there in the world of a butterfly for example???

The crafting industry will take a huge, huge hit if this legislation passes.

This commentary only addresses a couple of points, there are many more in addition to what I've written here.

hoo-ray for samples!!!

I thought I heard heavy footsteps upstairs this morning...which are often attributed to my (overweight) kitties. You see, I work in the basement level of the house and generally in silence, except for some random snoring should either one of the kitties decide to come downstairs and nap.

Today, the footsteps were that of Mr. UPS himself, dropping a heavy box of on my doorstep. Could it be??? FINALLY!!! My samples from Sizzix have at long last arrived. We all had to stop and admire the box...
some of us even sniffed it again and again, trying to get a sense of where it had been and why it took sooooo long to get here.
After searching franticly for a pair of scissors, we managed to open that bad boy up and...

were we ever excited to see the actual, real life, made of steel and rubber, not just pixels on my computer, DIES!!!!! Now the big hairy dilemma is...3 days until I leave for Surtex, more art to finish, deadlines to meet, a travel/wardrobe to figure out, a much needed manicure and haircut to schedule and promo materials to design and print. All this while still needing to keep up with the latest Orphan Works legislation so I can continue the good fight for artist's rights. GHEEEESH, no wonder I'm crabby. And today, all I WANT to do is play with my Sizzix samples.

Tomorrow, be sure to log onto The Scrapbookers Clubhouse where I'm hosting the sketch challenge for their big hooohaaah celebrity sketch extravaganza! I designed a multi tag card and made up a sample using some of my paper designs from the INITIALLY YOURS paper and chipboard stacks I sell on QVC.com Just go to the QVC link and type my name in the search field...Brenda Pinnick.

PUGS

Aren't they sweet? Zoe and Pearl, my "grand-pugs".

KaJinker ad layout

I've mentioned this fun tool before on this blog and it's worth mentioning again!
The KaJinker tool comes with really fun rhinestones, buttons, shapes and more that you can use
to embellish anything from fabric to paper, to lampshades! The possiblilites are limitless... on this layout I used the actual attaching plastic pieces to make the little dots you see. These come in a variety of colors and lengths so if you're going through different thicknesses, no worries. I did this layout for an ad they ran in the CHA show guide last February. If you love tools, you'll really enjoy this one!

The central, layered flower is from my new line with Sizzix and the flower shaped rhinestones are KaJinker accessories, also available in a lot of great colors, sizes and shapes.

In the US, you can buy it at Joann stores or you can shop online on the KaJinker website.

Attorney's letter to the House-Tammy Browning Smith

go here to read the letter Attorney Tammy Browning Smith
sent to the House of Representatives.

learn more about the orphan works bill

"ORPHAN WORKS" update from Illustrator's Partnership

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS PARTNERSHIP
Since yesterday, over 31, 000 letters have gone out from our Orphan Works advocacy site.
Q: What can we do next?
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/home/
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:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00261
IPA Senate Mark-up Comments April 30, 2008: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/ow_docs
Geneva/ May 7, 2008 Orphan Works Bill Catches Global Attention/ Intellectual Property Watch/
http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/index.php?p=1028
MP3 Interview: http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html
YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc

Please post this message or forward it to any interested party.

If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list, email us at: illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com Place “Add Name” in the subject line, and provide your name and the email address you want used in the message area.

more Orphan Works information

Below are two documents which explain the major objections to the two bills known as "Orpan Works", written by Joanne Fink.Download primary_objections_to_hr_5889.pdf
Download primary_objections_to_s_2913.pdf

waaa, waaa, waaaa...

earlier today I was whining about having to run my errands myself and some boohooing about not having "staff". Ha, next time I do that, just tell me to shut up, will ya? geeesh. While driving to the post office, I realized that it's not the actual "running of errands" that bothers me, it's the interruption to the creative process that I resent. It's when you're "in the flow" so to speak and things are coming together, almost like magic. Then WHAM! you remember all the "running the business" type stuff that needs doing today and there goes the creative process. It's having to switch over to the left brain that's so hard to do sometimes.
Well, serendipity intervenes and I found myself right next door to one of my favorite indulgences. No, not chocolate, although that's another, and no, not the wine store either. I'm talking about the GOODWILL store...yaaaaaa! Heck, I'll do my part to save the planet...I'll find new uses for cast-offs and orphans....and for just $3.00, I found THESE!!!

BRAND SPANKIN NEW! And anyone who knows me knows that one of my mantras is "never enough red shoes". So today, I learned a little lesson. Do your own chores and you will be rewarded. OK, I just made that up, but, it's good to keep in mind when you start boohooing about having to drive to the post office. Maybe there's chocolate, or wine, or RED SHOES to be discovered!

lunch, anyone?

Here is a close-up, cropped section from one of my paintings in the "spatial fantasy" series, done a few years ago. I just wanted to brighten up your day with a little "eye-candy". I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was little, does it show??? LOL.