Monday, May 19, 2008

Orphan Works Legislation Must Be Rejected and Rewritten

Orphan Works legislation is making its way through Congress at the moment. It's time to take action and defend the photo industry. Our careers are stake here for decades to come. Contact your congressmen and let them know what you think about this nefarious legislation. You can find their contact info here

Read prior posts for more info on this legislation. You can use the following letter as template to write to your congressmen or women:

Dear Senator ____________ _________ _:

I am one of your constituents, and a professional photographer. It is
crucial to my professional livelihood that you oppose this bill in
its current form. If this bill's current language becomes law, it
would permit, and even encourage, wide-scale infringements of my
copyrighted photographs while depriving me of many of the protections
currently available to me under the Copyright Act, including the
right to ask the courts to award statutory damages and attorneys'
fees. In the publication world, the reality is that most photographs
will easily become considered orphaned, depriving me of a significant
part of my much needed income.

I urge you to oppose this bill unless and until it is amended to
contain at least the minimum provisions that are critical to protect
photographers, including but not limited to a notice of use that must
be filed before the use is made, upon penalty of losing eligibility
to claim orphan work status for failure to file the notice; an
archive of the notices, to be maintained by the Copyright Office or
an approved third party; and other protections that appear in the
current (May 15, 2008) language of H.R. 5889.

Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can provide you
with any additional information. Thank you for your time. I hope that
you will take the necessary actions to protect my interests and
prevent the passage of this bill until it is amended to be fair and
reasonable to all parties.

Respectfully yours,
(your name)

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