Do You Post Photos Online? Read This

Okay, I know I've been harping on this orphan works thing, but some people still don't get how serious it is yet. So here's just a taste of what's to come in the future. Read this and this about an illustrator whose image was stolen by a large cigarette company and used to advertise cigarettes to kids. Read this about a blogger whose photo of her pet showed up on Fox TV, and this about a photographer whose image was used by cnet without permission. Read this about a guy whose photos were used by Real Time with Bill Mahr without his permission. Then read this Washington Post article about it happening to others.

Some of these infringements were willful, some an honest accident, blamed on the lowly intern (wink, wink). Regardless, this is just a taste of what is to come.

As scary as that is, it's nothing compared to this. Websites like Google and Flickr are removing metadata—hidden data within the digital file that includes the creator's name, contact info, and copyright info among other things—from digital files. Yikes! These are two companies that stand to benefit financially from orphaned works, and they are willfully orphaning works by removing this information. This is a recipe for wholesale theft!

If you have not already done so, go to Orphan Works Opposition Headquarters and read more there. Sign their petition and write your congressional leaders using the form letters. Some of them are starting to get the message but they need to hear from YOU.

Orphaned Works Update

Members of IPA, and associates working with them, met with congressional leaders in DC last week. It sounds as if a few are starting to get it. But we're not out of the woods yet.

Here's a link to an Op-Ed piece published in the New York Times last week by non-other than Lawrence Lessig. Oddly enough, he is opposed to the current legislation. But I wouldn't let him babysit my kids just yet, if you know what I mean.

And here's an article from the Boston Herald. So the press is starting to listen.

From the IPA's website, a listing of artist groups against passage of this OW legislation.

Post Card Campaign to Oppose Orphan Works

The Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed their Orphan Works Act. It is now headed for the full Senate. This from Joanne Fink, President of Lakeside Design:

Urgent: Do this today in order to impact next week's opposition team
meetings in Washington D.C.

Postcard mailings: It was suggested that we get everyone to start sending
postcards to the DISTRICT offices, not the Washington DC office, because mail sent to Washington gets scanned/screened and can take over two weeks to get to the
recipient, while mail sent to the district office gets couriered to the Washington office the next day. Please disseminate this information as soon as possible. We'd like to have thousands of postcards waiting for our legislators before we go to visit them. Please help with this last ditch effort!

Here's what to do:

1. Write "Please vote NO on the Orphan Works bill " (add H.R. 5889 for the
   House; S-2913 for the Senate). No other explanation is necessary.


2. Sign your name and include your contact info.


3. Addres it to your elected official's district office. Click to find your Senator's address or your Representative's address. You will need to click through to their website.


4. Add a stamp—27 cents; 42 cents if your postcard is over 6" x 4 1/4".

Orphaned Works is Back! Act Now!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water!

What's an Orphaned Work?
Any intellectual property that has been abandoned by its creator, either through neglect or death.

What's the Big Deal?
Large corporations (Microsoft, Hearst, Google) have amassed hoards of public domain works and license them for $$$. Now they're after orphaned work.

So what? Your not dead?
This current legislation will change the definition of orphaned work and allow those who claim they can't find me to use my work without permission, thereby giving them incentive not to find me. It will remove any recourse I may have when I discover the infringement, yet does not limit the infringer in a countersuit. It will allow the infringer to make derivatives of my work and copyright them as their own!

It Doesn't Affect Me So I'm Not Interested
Au Contraire! Do you post family photos online? On your BLOG? If you don't register them with one of the as-yet-to-be-in-existance-for-profit-registries, it will become an orphaned-work, and large corporations like Google and Microsoft will harvest and sell it for profit. How will you feel when you see your sweet child's face advertising some unsavory product, and there won't be a darn thing you can do about! Do I have your attention now?

So, Call the Media
Sorry, they're not interested because they stand to profit. Many of them own stock photo or art houses.

That's Bad. How Can I Help?
Go to the Illustrator's Partnership to read about the two similar bills currently sailing through Congress. Then go to their Take Action page. Put in your zip code and they will email your Congressmen of your wishes.

Even if I'm a Writer?
YES! Writer, Plumber, Short Order Cook! You all have power of the pen. Do your civic duty and support Artists and Photographers everywhere! And all you Blogging Writers? I've seen the power you wield when you have your mind set on something. Post the IPA site on your blogs and let the world know.

One more Thing
I hate to be political on my blog; that's not what I'm about. But . . . Laurence Lessig is the lawyer who started this whole assault on intellectual property a few years back. Do a search for Lessig and your favorite candidate to see which candidate Lessig supports. That doesn't necessarily mean that that candidate is FOR this bill, but it might make you think twice.

The Copyright Office goes Electronic!

This is cool—I signed up to be a beta-tester for the copyright office's new electronic registration system. After I input my login name and password, I was directed to a series of screens asking for the typical information. When I was done, I added the registration to a shopping cart, and had the option to register another image, or pay. It even lets you save your registration as a template for future use. I paid easily through a government website, then uploaded the image. Voila! It was that easy.

Those of you that know me, know I am a big proponent of copyright registration. Here's why I think this is a great leap forward:

1. Uploading your image electronically will help to make sure it will be included in any searchable online image database (if one ever becomes available.)

2. Registering online provides your most recent contact information to the copyright office, including email, fax and alternate phone number (cell). These items are not on the current paper registration forms. The more contact information you include, the easier it will be for possible licensors to find you (alternately, harder for possible infringers to say they couldn't find you.) This is important especially if you've moved and have your old address on previous registrations.

3. You save money! The fee is $35 for online registration versus the $45 fee for paper registration. You also save money on courier fees.

4. You save time. You are protected from infringements the moment your registration reaches the copyright office. Before, I sent them overnight by FedEx and they were received the next day. Now they are received immediately and I'm protected immediately.

5. More money saving—a new feature that is being considered is allowing you to enter the titles of each item on your group registration for a fee—$1 each title electronically or $3 each title traditionally. Currently individual titles from group registrations are not searchable, so this in itself would be big step forward.

6. This will make it harder for those Orphan Works people to *claim* they can't find you, and thus use your artwork without your consent, with no penalty to them.

If you want to sign up too, go the the Copyright Office's webpage and click on the left where it says "Beta Testers Sought for Online Services."

If you want more information on the Orphan Works issue, go to Illustrator's Partnership or Graphic Artists Guild websites.

And if you can't get enough of this geeky copyright talk, then head on over the Pamela Parker's BLOG called, what else, Copyright Talk!