sample letter-help defeat the Orphan Works Legislation!

CALLING ALL ARTISTS AND IP OWNERS
The Orphan Works Bill has reared its ugly head again! I urge all artists and those who create intellectual property to write their senators and congressmen immediately! Here is a sample letter. Fill in your own name, etc. I just faxed mine off to my senators and congressman.

To:

SUBJECT: PLEASE VETO!

The Shawn Bentley Orphan Acts of 2008 (S. 2913) and The Orphan Works Act of 2008 (H.R. 5889)

I am writing in opposition to two new bills coming up for a vote: S. 2913 and H.R. 5889.

I am a (list state, district) illustrator and author who licenses my art and writes published books and magazine articles to earn a living. I am not a hobbyist. I am (incorporated or operate) as (name company name), and run my (list town) studio as a business, paying corporate taxes and filing all legal documents per the law. I have been registering my images with the Copyright Office for over (number) years, own the rights to (list approximate number) of images I’ve created and am currently entitled under the law to be awarded damages and legal fees if I bring suit against an infringer and win the suit.

Under two new bills being proposed in both Houses, however, all that will change.

Late last week, two versions of the Orphan Works bill were introduced simultaneously to both the U.S. House of Representative and the U.S. Senate. Both the Senate version, S.2913, and the House version, H.R.5889 are very similar in nature and closely mirror the Orphan Works Act of 2006. I am adamantly opposed to these bills! They open up a Pandora’s box capable of destroying the rights of all intellectual copyright owners. These bills MUST be vetoed!

These bills are merely reformatted versions of the defeated Orphan Works Act of 2006 but they are currently being catapulted through both the Senate and House at lightening speed, possibly being “piggy-backed” onto another bill that will pass unopposed. If passed in their current forms, the repercussions from these bills will adversely affect every single intellectual property owner including artists, photographers, illustrators, manufacturers, publishers and more. In a nutshell, the bills will create a huge loophole for anyone to reproduce or use copyrighted materials in any way they choose (including for profit). At the same time, it also removes current existing legal punishment for copyright infringement by removing damage and legal fee awards for those whose works are infringed or stolen.

In our current economic climate and controversies about politics and war, Congressional leaders have much more to worry about than this “little” bill. And that is exactly why it is being timed like this by its proponents…and being rushed for a vote so quickly in May.

The original intent of the Orphan Works Act of 2006 was to allow non-profit and education institutions to publish or use images without the danger of being sued (including paying damages and legal fees) if they could not find the owner of the copyrights. No one disagrees with this original intent. However, for-profit organizations including large stock image companies and visual foundations, as well as other “for- profit” companies who would gain substantially in revenue if they could avoid paying licensing or use fees, got wind of this bill and are backing & lobbying for its passage. The 2006 bill was narrowly defeated but has now resurfaced as the two bills introduced last week and poses the same dangers as before.

If these bills are passed, anyone who chooses to use images FOR PROFIT without permission or ownership will have to first be caught, as our copyright laws currently state. BUT then, according to the proposed bills, all an infringer needs do is claim they performed a “due diligent search” and couldn’t locate the copyright owner so the images they used could be declared “orphans”. The only “penalty” for using these “orphan” images without permission or ownership will be a vaguely worded “reasonable compensation”. The actual owner of the images whose rights would have been infringed will not be entitled to any damages or legal fees! Except for big properties & brand owners like Disney or American Greetings, how many artists, photographers, etc would be able to even FILE suit for infringement, much less hire an IP attorney or go to trial if needed…if these bills are passed? None! So artists like me would lose our rights but the thieves would go unpunished.

Two of my main concerns about the bills are (1) what constitutes "reasonable compensation"& how that would be determined and (2) the inability of a legal, registered copyright owner to recoup legal fees in order to defend our copyrights. In addition, the bills offer a solution for artists to register their images in privately owned registries that don’t even currently exist…and at additional expense to the creator! Not only do these registries not exist, there is no way to control how many registries would be created by private for profit companies or if they would be synchronized in searchable data.

From a larger perspective, the effects of these bills, as currently worded, would also hurt small business and discourage entrepreneurship. This will only add to our current economic problems, loss of jobs and possibly affecting U.S. goods being imported into Europe and other countries…plus a worldwide association that would parallel China’s poor reputation for not respecting copyright ownership. This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact and permanently damage my income and life as an artist. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries.

I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill and protect my rights, my copyrights, to all that I have and will create.

For more information from those opposing this legislation please visit: http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html or www.IllustratorsPartnership.org