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.

More on Robert's Snow

A few weeks ago I attended to reception at Child at Heart Gallery for the Robert's Snow display. I met up with old friends Ilene Richard and Mary Newell DePalma. Here they are chatting outside the gallery. Both are very talented and ironically (or not), they both created 3D snowflakes as well. Ilene and I had lunch where she shared with me her latest pb dummy.

Meeting up with old friends is great, but so is meeting new ones. Do you remember my post a few years ago when I said I wanted to grow up to be Alissa Imre Geis? Of course you don't, but I did, and I still do. Even more so now that I've met her. Here she is holding her snowflake. Notice all the other snowflakes in the background.

New at the Gallery

This piece is new for me at the gallery. I hung it the other day in their new Holiday section. It's a piece I did a few years ago for a paper company. They sent me a box full of their shiny, fuzzy, bumpy, see-through, glittery paper and asked me to make them something Christmasy. Oh, and the background is made from their wood paper. It's actual thin slices of wood encased within a thin veneer of plastic.

Do you have trouble keeping your artifical wreaths fresh looking year after year? Are you hard pressed to pick up a fresh wreath or make your own each year? Then this is the answer for you. It's framed with a green velvet matt and gold colored frame. And the red velvet bow is brilliant when the light is shining just right on it. You can see it at Artistic Roots Gallery in Campton, NH.

You can see an interview of me by Cindy Lord (Newbery Honor winning author extraordinaire.) It's part of the whole author-interviewing-artist initiative for Robert's Snow. Thank you, Cindy, for doing a bang-up job! I almost didn't recognize myself!

JoNoWriMo+1.5

It's that time of year again. Based on National Novel Writing Month, JoNoWriMo+1.5 is a little less intense and a lot more fun. It's run by the very clever Jo Knowles. Head on over there if you're ready to commit to completing your writing for children goals in 2.5 months!

Here's mine: to finish the first draft of my so-called cemetery WIP. It's a MG novel about a girl that wants to help her dying Grammy, so she sets out to discover what it's like to die. She 'haunts' the caretaker at the cemetery, the under-taker, the grave digger and the monument people, only to find out that it's not how you die, but how you live that matters. Stay tuned for more adventures of Lily!!!!!!!!

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!

Update part deux!

Robert's Snow

It's that time of year again and here is my humble snowflake this year. This side has a three-dimensional Christmas tree with little yellow stars, and red and blue ornaments. The background is watercolor. I've attached little floating snowflake satelites around to give the appearance of a snow flurry. It's a traditional type tree that you might find inside your own home.

The back side is a similar tree but decorated with colorful birds as you might imagine if it were outside.

The auction will be especially poignant this year because of Robert Mercer's passing. If you don't know the story, check it out at Robert's Snow. The auction will take place in November and December, and be displayed at the Child at Heart Gallery, in Newburyport, MA. An opening will be held there on October 6, 2007, 2-7 pm, with many of the local snowflake artists in attendance, myself included. Hope to see you there.

Fundraiser

In other news, I've been asked to be on the board of directors for a new fundraising project initiated by Tomie dePaola, in honor of his friend Trina Schart Hyman (and my favorite children's book artist of all time.) It's all still in the planning stages but you will hear more about it shortly. If you want to know more about Trina head over to my other website, Women Children's Book Illustrators.

I also attended Tomie's yard sale this summer. What a hoot! I bought a Mexican folk art angel and a colorful paper flower wreath with ribbon streamers. Tomie told me I should wear it. I'll be hanging both in my new studio soon. Who knows. Maybe I'll channel Tomie if I wear it while I work. I also bought some colorful napkins that I hope to make lots of pillows with.

My new over-the-garage studio is almost done and I hope to post pictures soon.

Gallery

I've had my original art in Artistic Roots Gallery since last March. AR, a cooperative gallery, is locted in Campton, NH right off Interstate 93, exit 28. They are open every day, except Christmas and Thanksgiving 10-6. I have cards and signed books for sale there too. This is one of the framed pieces I there.

Open House at the Gallery will be held October 5, 2007 from 5–8 pm. As one of the newer artists there, my art will featured along with the other new artists' work.