I was supposed to be on an assignment today, but alas, the clouds have rolled in again. Now I can catch up on a few items that have come to my attention recently. This one I’ve known about for a while; and while I tend to shy away from talking politics online, creative voices are rising en-masse to voice objections to Congress.
The Orphan Works concept is an assault on current copyright protections that will turn the Internet into a photographic version of Napster on steroids. Except now, commercial users can profit from the use of one of your photos, and they could simply claim “oops, we tried to find who owned this photo.” Now, copyright law says creatives can sue for statutory damages, and if the bill passes, the change would ammend the law so that photographers would be limited soley to actual damages.
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) has posted an urgent call to photographers and others to become educated on the matter, and to contact their Representatives, calling for the opposition to the Orphan Works bill
The Stock Artist Alliance (SAA) has a blog on the subject for those interested to read more or follow the legal proceedings. SAA President, David Sanger, has posted a great real-life example of potential orphans on his own web site.
