If a proposed law, H.R. 5889, The Orphan Works Bill of 2008 passes the U.S. House of Representatives or  S. 2913, The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, passes the Senate, will your images, photos, artistic work  and authored works  be in danger of becoming public property?  Apparently, the infringers just have to indicate they can’t find or couldn’t contact the owner and will have free use of much written and artistic work.

In a radical departure from existing copyright law and business practice, the U.S. Copyright Office has proposed that Congress grant such infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the author and use the work for any purpose, including commercial usage. In the case of visual art, the word “author” means “artist.”  (From Overview at Illustrators Partnership of America)

The House Bill already has passed the House Judiciary Committee.

For more information on how this affects you, the artist, photographer, painter, designer…small and home business owner, visit the Illustrators Partnership of America web site. 

Another source of explanation of “Orphan Works” and the consequences to authors and artists if one of these bills becomes law is at Public Knowledge.

“Orphan Works” are copyrighted works – books, music, records, films, etc – whose owner cannot be located. (From Public Knowledge)

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

How Will the Orphan Works Bill Affect Ownership of Your Art and Written Work?