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| 02.24.06 | Call for Action to Prevent Orphan Works Amendment Call for Action to Prevent Orphan Works Amendment to U.S. Copyright Law Tuesday, Victor Perlman, attorney for the American Society of Media Photographers went to Washington to register ASMPís opposition to the recent Orphan Works Report. Last week, Vic phoned us and asked if he could speak for IPA as well. We sent him the letter we submitted to the Copyright Office last year and said he could tell Senators and Congressman that it expressed the opposition of the 42 arts organizations in the U.S. and throughout the world, and the nearly 2,000 artists who signed it. Orphan Works legislation is being championed by museums, libraries, archives, foundations and Free Culture advocates, and there is concerted pressure on Congress to write the recommendations into law before the end of this session. This legislation jeopardizes visual artistsí copyrights and robs artists of income. We need to make sure that lawmakers hear from the people who will be hurt by these harmful changes to the 1976 Copyright Act. To do this effectively, all illustrators and photographers need to make their voices heard. ASMP has already asked their members and others to commence a letter writing campaign to lawmakers. We urge all artists to do the same, and to act quickly to express your opposition to your Congressional representatives. We wouldnít ask unless it was vital. This is a make or break moment for artists, creative authorship, and the exclusive rights guaranteed to artists under U.S. Copyright Law and the Berne Convention. For maximum impact, we urge visual rightsholders to fax letters on your letterhead. E-mails donít carry the same weight, and neither do form letters. We are providing a sample letter for you, but we recommend you modify it with your own points, or write your own letter. We are providing the complete list of those to contact at the bottom of this message. Or you may wish to use the excellent resource of tools to simplify faxing to legislators graciously provided by ASMP at http://asmp.org/news/spec2006/orphan_tools.php --Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner For the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership of America This message may be forwarded in its entirety to any interested party. DRAFT LETTER Re: Orphan Works Copyright Legislation Dear (Senator or Representative) ____________________: (Identify yourself and include a one or two sentence description of your specialty and/or affiliations) ____________________________________________________. Iím writing to express my opposition to the conclusions expressed in the U.S. Copyright Office Orphan Works Report. The 1976 Copyright Act guarantees me as an artist the exclusive right to authorize or withhold reproduction of my work and to create derivative works. It guarantees this from the moment I fix the work in a tangible form, and it guarantees this without imposing formalities such as a copyright mark or registration. The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works forbids such formalities as a condition on my enjoyment and exercise of copyright. This is particularly important for visual artists because many works appear without credit lines or identifying information. The explosion of unauthorized posting on the internet has increased instances of unidentified work. The Orphan Works provision constitutes a loophole that will jeopardize the copyrights of thousands of freelance artists such as me, and do so retroactively. Although the Orphan Works report states that it does not re-impose formalities, I fear that for all practical purposes the proposed amendment will have that effect. All work created by all artists throughout the world, regardless of age, whether published or not, whether of U.S. origin or abroad, will be subject to orphan works claims. The provision shifts the burden of diligence from the owner to the user. I see no practical way that I could monitor any potential infringement of my work in any publication or database anywhere within the reach of the internet. My creative work is one of the most personal forms of private property that I have because it wouldnít exist without the specific expression that is the result of my outlook and experience. Nothing in the Orphan Works Report justifies the exploitation of my private property by others. Iím also afraid the penalties provision is another glaring loophole for anyone who chooses to make payment for usage the option of last resort. Once a work has been published there is no certain way to establish a reasonable fee. Any user can offer any fee, and unless Iím agreeable to the offer I have no option but to file a prohibitively expensive lawsuit that would cost more than I could recover. Iím therefore afraid that this part of the Orphan Works provision would constitute a no-fault license to infringe. Several times in the Orphan Works Report unvalidated assertions are made that orphan work has little or no commercial value. This is contrary to my entire professional experience. The work that I create constitutes a valuable inventory that I can license any time, now or in the future, as part of my day-to-day business. Nothing in the universal copyright conventions gives any user the right to devalue my inventory for their own gain. I believe that the answer to those instances of users who wish to use genuine visual art orphan works be confined to the specific instances that have been identified, such as family photo restoration, genealogy research and historical archiving, and be handled with specific limited exemptions to the Copyright law, just as many other countries have done. I ask you to reject any legislation that would further undermine copyright protection for artists. Respectfully yours, (your name) Contact the Senate Judiciary Committee Arlen Specter, Chairman - Pennsylvania - Fax one of these district offices: Allentown: 610-434-1844 Erie: 814-455-9925 Harrisburg: 717-782-4920 Philadelphia: 215-597-0406 Pittsburgh: 412-644-4871 Scranton: 570-346-8499 Wilkes-Barre: 570-826-6266 Orrin G. Hatch - Utah - Fax (202) 224-6331 Patrick J. Leahy - Vermont - No fax, so call district office (802) 863-2525 Charles E. Grassley - Iowa - Fax one of these district offices: Cedar Rapids: (319) 363-7179 Council Bluffs: (712) 322-7196 Davenport: (563) 322-8552 Des Moines: (515) 288-5097 Sioux City: (712) 233-1634 Waterloo: (319) 232-9965 Edward M. Kennedy - Massachusetts - Fax (202) 224-2417 Jon Kyl - Arizon - Fax (202) 224-2207 Joseph R. Biden, Jr. - Delaware - Fax 202-224-0139 Mike DeWine - Ohio - Fax (202) 224-6519 Herbert Kohl - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-9787 Jeff Sessions - Alabama - Fax (202) 224-3149 Dianne Feinstein - California - Fax (202) 228-3954 Lindsey Graham - South Carolina - No fax numbers are published, so call a district office: Greenville: (864) 250-1417 Columbia: (803) 933-0112 Florence: (843) 669-1505 Mt. Pleasant: (843) 849-3887 Rock Hill: (803) 366-2828 Seneca: (864) 888-3330 Russell D. Feingold - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 224-2725 John Cornyn - Texas - Fax 202-228-2856 Charles E. Schumer - New York - Fax 202-228-3027 Sam Brownback - Kansas - Fax (202) 228-1265 Richard J. Durbin - Illinois - Fax (202) 228-0400 Tom Coburn - Oklahoma - Fax 202-224-6008 Contact the House Judiciary Committee F. James Sensenbrenner, Chairman - Wisconsin - no fax, call district office at (262) 784-1111 Henry J. Hyde - Illinois - Fax (202) 225-1166 Howard Coble - North Carolina - Fax (202) 225-8611 Lamar Smith - Texas - Fax 202-225-8628 Elton Gallegly - California - Fax (202) 225-1100 Bob Goodlatte - Virginia - Fax (202) 225-9681 Steve Chabot - Ohio - Fax (202) 225-3012 Dan Lungren - California - Fax (202) 226-1298 William Jenkins - Tennessee - Fax (202) 225-5714 Chris Cannon - Utah - Fax (202) 225-5629 Spencer Bachus - Alabama - Fax 202 225-2082 Bob Inglis - South Carolina - Fax (202) 226-1177 John N. Hostettler - Indiana - Fax (202) 225-3284 Mark Green - Wisconsin - Fax (202) 225-5729 Ric Keller - Florida - Fax (202) 225-0999 Darrell Issa - California - Fax (202) 225-3303 Jeff Flake - Arizona - Fax (202) 226-4386 Mike Pence - Indiana - Fax (202) 225-3382 J. Randy Forbes - Virginia - Fax (202) 226-1170 Steve King - Iowa - Fax (202) 225-3193 Tom Feeney - Florida - Fax (202) 226-6299 Trent Franks - Arizona - Fax (202) 225-6328 Louie Gohmert - Texas - Fax (202) 225-5866 John Conyers, Jr - Michigan - Fax (202) 225-0072 Howard L. Berman - California - Fax (202) 225-3196 Rick Boucher - Virginia - Fax (202) 225-0442 Jerrold Nadler - New York - No fax, call the district office 212-367-7350 Robert C. Scott - Virginia - Fax (202) 225-8354 Mel Watt - North Carolina - Fax (202) 225-1512 Zoe Lofgren - California - Fax (202) 225-3336 Sheila Jackson Lee - Texas - Fax (202) 225-3317 Maxine Waters - California - Fax 202-225-7854 Marty Meehan - Massachusetts - Fax (202) 226-0771 Bill Delahunt - Massachusetts - Fax (202) 225-5658 Robert Wexler - Florida - Fax (202) 225-5974 Anthony Weiner - New York no fax, call district office (718) 743-0441 Adam Schiff - California - Fax (202) 225-5828 Linda S·nchez - California - Fax (202) 226-1012 Chris Van Hollen - Maryland - Fax (202) 225-0375 Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Florida - Fax 202-226-2052 Contact your home Legislators too Contact info for all Senators is listed here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm To find your Representative's name, enter your state and zip code on this page: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ Then find the Representative's home page using the alphabetic list: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml The home page will have a "contact" link for fax numbers and other info. |