FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP
According to our sources THE HOUSE WILL TRY TO PASS THE ORPHAN WORKS BILL TODAY 10.3.08
**If this Bill is only meant to help libraries and museums, why did they draft it behind closed doors?
**Why have the doors been opened wide for commercial infringement of
the work of living authors actively licensing their work?
**Why do they want to pass it when
nobody is looking?
**Why do they want to re-write copyright law without an open debate?
Stop this effort to give content to Big Internet firms by under mining copyright law. Get the word out!
Light up Washington and home offices of your Congressman.
Contact the media.· Deny them cover. Do not let them hide.
Tell them we will hold each of them accountable.
Here is the message to communicate to your Congressman, Key Leaders,
Aides and Media:
** The "Dark Archive" - where infringers can register their paperwork in secret - will not protect our copyrights.
**An "Open Archive" - with orphaned work exposed to to the public -would be a come-and-get-it bank for plagiarists and infringers.
**Artists cannot monitor tens or hundreds of thousands of images everyday to see if somebody somewhere has infringed their work.
**There are more than a trillion images subject to orphaning each day.
**If someone can't find me, that doesn't mean I've orphaned my work.
An unsuccessful search for a property owner should not be a license to steal.
**Artists should not have to digitize their life's work at their own expense to comply with a law they don't want or need.
**The high cost compliance would make compliance prohibitive.
**The loss of exclusive rights would undermine contractual agreements with clients.
**We cannot sell exclusive rights to clients if others can publish our work without our knowledge or consent.
**The loss of exclusive rights would devalue our entire inventories of work.
**Small business owners should not be forced to subsidize the business models of Big Internet firms.
**No rational business owner should have to give access to their inventory, meta data, client contact information, etc. to outside business interests.
**Tell lawmakers to prevent passage of this bill until it can be subjected to an open, informed and transparent public examination.
**Tell them this is no way to re-write copyright law.
**Tell them it will affect millions of rights holders worldwide.
**Tell them you would support a true orphan works bill, but this is not it.
**Tell them to to consider the amendments presented by the Illustrator's Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America
Phone, fax, email these Congress people immediately:
DELAHUNT Phone: (202) 225-3111
Fax (202) 225-5658
CONYERS Phone: (202) 225-5126
Fax: (202) 225-0072
Phone: (313) 961-5670
Fax: (313) 226-2085
NADLER Phone: (202) 225-5635
Fax: (202) 225-6923
Phone: (212) 367-7350
Fax: (212) 367-7356
BERMAN Phone: (202) 225-4695
Fax: (202) 225-3196
Phone: (818) 994-7200
Fax: (818) 994-1050
PELOSI :AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4965
Fax: (202) 225-8259
Phone: (415) 556-4862
Fax: (415) 861-1670
HOYER steny.hoyer@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4131
Fax: (202) 225-4300
Phone: (301) 474-0119
Fax: (301) 474-4697
YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
To find Washington and District Office phone, fax and web forms for your Representative http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/dbq/officials/ and enter your zip code
YOUR LOCAL MEDIA
To find the contacts for your Local Media go to http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/dbq/media/
and enter your zip code
This release was written by Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner,
for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party.
For news and information:
Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog:http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/
Over 75 organizations oppose this bill, representing over half a million creators.
I'll be spending tomorrow at the New York Times Small Business Summit. Hopefully I'll have fun stuff to report and lots of doodles to share when I get back.
