NFs is your art really yours?

[felt up]

NFs is your art really yours? We are moving toward a socialization of our original works of art, so the large corporations capitalize off of us. I'm so angry right now I want to strip all original works of art from the internets. I can't talk, I can't write. Nothing is mine anymore.

Please read. Afterwards there is a link for you to contact your reps.


Orphan Works Bill: Gov. Geared To Exp... - Crafty Vixens - tribe.net


Imagine a world where the things you made belonged not to you, but to someone else - unless you paid for the right to own them first. Under the Orphan Works Bill, anyone who produces a creative work would have to pay exorbitant sums of money for the simple act of creating art and for the continued ownership of their art through unending copyright registry fees.

This is what the Orphan Works Bill proposes: the bill proposes that as soon as any work of art is created, it would be required to be registered for a moderately high fee with ALL of SEVERAL copyright houses and entered into a giant database. Anyone who does not do this would risk any creation being taken and sold by someone else, and that would be legal because ALL UNREGISTERED WORK would be considered ORPHANED. This includes such simple things as family photos - if posted on the Internet and not registered with a copyright database, your photo album could be used in a series of ads by a major corporation for their latest campaign - and: 1) there would be nothing you could legally do to stop it, because 2) they could legally own your art just by registering it first, and 3) they wouldn't give you a dime. The only way you would regain control of your art is if the previous owner of the copyright allows it to lapse, thereby providing you the opportunity to purchase it.

The OWB extends to all the arts: illustration, photography, computer, mixed media, jewelry, ceramics, acting, performance art, singing, song writing, sculpting, costuming, etc., ad nauseam. It requires the constant registering of any artwork, over and over, ad nauseam; otherwise, your work *could* be used and sold by the government - which will own and run the giant registration companies and databases - for profit. And there is nothing you *would* be able to do about it - ever.

This adds up to a lot of money very quickly - for those who make art and register it, and for those who stand to profit from unregistered art. And not only that, but remember that the copyrights must constantly be renewed as proposed by this bill. Dare I say it? The Orphan Works Bill seeks to totally disempower any creative process in the entire United States of America.

Excerpt from The Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog, dated September 23, 2008:

Is it wise to concentrate our nations’ copyright wealth in the hands of a few corporate databases? With the meltdown on Wall Street, this might be a good time to ask Congress that question.

The Orphan Works bill would pressure copyright holders to subsidize the start ups of giant commercial databases. The contents of these databases would be more valuable than secure banking information. Yet who can watch the ongoing failure of investment banks that were “too big to fail’ without asking why government should want to create these privately owned image banks on the backs of small business owners who neither want nor need them. Here are some of the questions we’ve raised before about this bad legislative scheme:


• Who’s to be trusted with these databases?
• Who’s to manage them and in whose best interests?
• What happens when a database is hacked?
• What happens when one fails?
• What happens when one is acquired?
• What happens when the terms of service are changed?
• What happens when registration fees become prohibitive?
• What happens when maintenance fees are piled on?
• What happens when exorbitant commissions are imposed?
• What happens to artists who can’t afford to register?
• What happens when registered artists can’t afford to maintain their registrations?
• Will artists have to register their immense bodies of work in competing registries?
• What happens to your business when your clients start calling the databases, not you, to clear rights to your work?
• Why should small business owners be forced to entrust their business information to outside business interests?

Don't delay! Read the latest updates and archives on the Orphan Works Bill at The Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog found at: ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/ - and inform yourself. Take it one step further and write to Congress using their handy link to do just that! The more people that know about and speak out against this Bill, the more Congress and your representatives will hear the people's voice and be moved to act in our interest. Our interest is presumably what got them into office, so presumably it is what keeps them there as well. Let them know what you think of the Orphan Works Bill!

If you have never written to Congress, it is easy! Short, one-page letters are highly recommended. See this helpful and simple to follow article on writing guidelines from about.com: usgovinfo.about.com/library/...0199.htm. Another article at itfs.org/webnow/licens...o_congress.htm provides a fast look-up for all your representatives addresses, and suggests that posted letters are much more likely to be recieve attention than emails - as do the guidelines at the United Nations Association of the United States of America (United Nations Association of the USA | UNAUSA.org).

***

To put the notion of the Orphan Works Bill into a perspective that has immediate relevance to lots of people on tribe, I'll ask you this: What would Etsy buyers - and more especially sellers - do if this bill was to pass?

Most artists can just afford supplies and a little self-promotion time - let alone registering EVERY SINGLE ITEM of their creation with SEVERAL copyright institutions.

Own your art!




Here's a link to write your officials -

Issues and Legislation

[mlittrell]

pretty stupid if true

[felt up]

Actually it is true.

Senate hotlined this bill when they were supposed to be working on the bailout.

[Awesomecakes]

It's because if things like this I am weary about uploading my photos to Flickr -_-

[nolla]

What the f**k!?! This can't be true... It basically means that all the fabulous art I go see online is going to disappear. I also have a whole pile of my own art at DeviantArt and now I'm thinking if they are safe. I'm not American so maybe they can't take it from me, but if they are on an American server, how about then? This is wrong from so many perspectives, I can't believe someone could make it happen. But on the other hand, I just watched the news and saw that the same congress rejected the only way to help their economy not freezing up, so... I guess the Americans are led by idiots.

[mlittrell]

yaaaaa thats no good, how does crap like this get pushed and (hopefully not) passed

[animenagai]

a bit off topic, but i was told my my creative processes teacher that art is nobodies. the poem that you wrote is only that. it is on its own after that. /rant

[PinkPiranha]

Art is extremely difficult to keep control over. I've put copyrights on what I have posted at my online gallery, but truthfully, it's the wild west and you take chances. If you don't want something "lifted", you have to keep it shut away. You can do a poor man's copyright but mailing a copy of said work (poems, art, etc) to yourself and never open the tube/mailer. The date stamp from the postal service is meant to mark the day the work became your total property.

It's still very sketchy at best.

[Kyrielle]

Ah yes... That bill. The illustration department here protested and sent out petitions. I think eventually, we (the school) became officially against the notion and still are.

However, it is a good idea to try to figure out what to do with works that no longer belong to anyone because the artist, their enterprise/franchise, their relatives and anyone with connection to them are long dead. Which was the original purpose of this bill, I think. It's just absolutely terrible execution.

The trouble is it's a short-sighted solution. Whoever wrote this probably wasn't thinking of the larger ramifications of this bill and forgot two big things: 1) The art industry is incredibly competitive and there is a greater artist base than there is a client base and the client base isn't afraid to cut corners so they can make a larger profit (like the concept of stock images). 2) Because of point 1, artists are not made of money and acquiring the necessary funds to ensure every sketch, drawing, thumbnail, and finished piece are copyrighted to you is not only difficult but doing so at a high price is a ridiculous expectation.

Agreed Pink. They need to make a more "official" poor man's way of copyrighting artworks. Or make the poor man's way official.

[chris1207]

This really pisses me off. It's just our governments way of distracting liberals (e.g. artists) from the fact that our economy is going down the drain. It's kind of like what John Edwards did when he revealed his affair after Russia attacked Georgia. It gets everybody to look the other way.

I'm not much of an artist, I'm too structured in the way I think, but I think that creative folks are what make this world worth living in and I won't sit back and wait for them to be suppressed. I'll have to think about this some more before I go and write a letter to congress though.

I tell ya, this nations becoming more and more like 1984 and that could be our own undoing...