If the Orphan Works Act passes

Its apalling what this is, they basically in a sense want to make everything on the internet public domain because they cant mentally cope with the fact taht people can make a living in the world without being slaves to the corporate domain.

Another big problem I can see if this passes, they will just start harvesting stuff that they ASSUME has no copyright attached... so even if people go through the pointless process of registering their work will be endanger because corporations are jerks.

There was so much speculation going on in that video that I was starting to wonder whether this guy was just worrying the sky is about to fall in. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but no-one's actually seen a proposed bill as of yet, correct?

This paragraph, however, taken from the Copyright Office's Notice of Inquiry should nonetheless give anyone pause:

The Office has also looked extensively at the problem of orphaned photographs and artworks, and how best to facilitate an exchange between a good faith user and a rightful owner.
Aside from legal solutions, the Copyright Office is mindful of emerging practical solutions. Through an academic partnership with Stanford Law School, the Office has focused its attention on the subject of photographs and licensing gridlock. Stanford’s students are exploring ways to centrally assemble information concerning marketplace resources for the licensing of photographs and the data standards relied upon by copyright owners and licensees to engage in such transactions.

This would seriously hack the rights of a unwealthy art creators, as I imagine registering your copyrights would cost money.

So UK has this similar to this copyright bill thing already.

It does sound very alarming. I wouldn't feel comfortable giving rights to my work to big corporations simply because my work isn't registered in some private registry.

But I've only listened to first 15 minutes of the thing.

He said Finland isn't Scandinavian country...It is actually.

At 40:00 he starts speaking of the hypothetical event that the bill would pass and how it would affect him. (huge money and time loss)

I cant help but feel one aspect that isnt being considered enough, is that if this crap passes... then Corporations wouldnt want to employ anyone for artistic purposes anymore.

They would just harvest photographs and art that they need. IT would not just screw independent creators, but it would destroy thousands of jobs.

yeah and no. I would make it harder for illustrators if what we believe to be true, unless they use stock sites (which most do) since they're already signed away the copyrights and most corps use stock sites. But you'd still needs artworkers and designers.

The most of sales staff and admin I know that know nothing on how to 'do' a business card or promo material or even what is required in terms of a brief is mind blowing

Have you guys read;

I’ve been seeing scare tactics going around various comic artists over the past couple of days concerning an “update” to US Copyright law as a new act, and the reintroduction of legislation known as the Orphan Works Act. According to the misinformed postings (the original posting has been taken down, I am looking for another example) and on a YouTube video, the legislation would:

• The Next Great Copyright Act” would replace all existing copyright law.
• It would void our Constitutional right to the exclusive control of our work.
• It would “privilege” the public’s right to use our work.
• It would “pressure” you to register your work with commercial registries.
• It would “orphan” unregistered work.
• It would make orphaned work available for commercial infringement by “good faith” infringers.
• It would allow others to alter your work and copyright these “derivative works” in their own names.
• It would affect all visual art: drawings, paintings, sketches, photos, etc.; past, present and future; published and unpublished; domestic and foreign.

Well, I’m here to dump so cold hard truth in front of you. The above? That’s all bullshit, not true at all. Not even close.

The first sign to me that the above was crap was the fact the post references that this is a law before Congress, but has you contact the US Copyright Office, instead of Congress. The video referenced admits there’s actually no legislation before Congress, there’s no text to actually see. The Copyright Office is doing their job, writing a report, and they are asking for input from individuals. There is no legislation, this is akin to a brainstorming project. This happens every day in government, there’s nothing unusual here and also nothing to get whipped up about. Reports go nowhere every day.

Here are the facts.

On June 4, 2015 the United States Copyright Office released a report1 on orphan works and mass digitization. The report:

…documents the legal and business challenges faced by good faith users who seek to use orphan works and/or engage in mass digitization projects.   It provides a series of legislative recommendations that offer users a way forward out of gridlock, but also take into account the legitimate concerns and exclusive rights of authors and other copyright owners.

The report also:

With respect to orphan works, the Report provides draft legislation that draws upon the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act passed by the Senate seven years ago, albeit with some updates and changes that reflect intervening developments and public discussions.

You can read the full report here1. Before getting riled up, actually read the report and see for yourself what it does. The report looks at the 2006 and 2008 Orphan Works proposed legislation (I’ll get to that in a bit). It also discusses Fair Use, Google Books litigation, and various experiences with the issues of copyright around the world. The executive summary sums it all up nicely:

As the Supreme Court reaffirmed in 2012, facilitating the dissemination of creative expression is an important means of fulfilling the constitutional mandate to “promote the Progress of Science” through the copyright system. This Report addresses two circumstances in which the accomplishment of that goal may be hindered under the current law due to practical obstacles preventing good faith actors from securing permission to make productive uses of copyrighted works. First, with respect to orphan works, referred to as “perhaps the single greatest impediment to creating new works,” a user’s ability to seek permission or to negotiate licensing terms is compromised by the fact that, despite his or her diligent efforts, the user cannot identify or locate the copyright owner. Second, in the case of mass digitization – which involves making reproductions of many works, as well as possible efforts to make the works publicly accessible – obtaining permission is essentially impossible, not necessarily because of a lack of identifying information or the inability to contact the copyright owner, but because of the sheer number of individual permissions required.

The short version? Some times it’s hard to get a hold of the copyright holder, and some times there’s a hell of a lot of people that need to be contacted.

The report has SUGGESTIONS for legislation. On page 8 those are:

• Permit the Register of Copyrights to authorize CMOs meeting specified criteria to issue licenses on behalf of both members and non-members of the organization to allow the use of copyrighted works implicated by the creation or operation of a digital collection;
• Apply only to the three categories of works noted above, with possible additional limitations based on works’ commercial availability or date of publication;
• Give copyright owners the right to limit the grant of licenses with respect to their works or to opt out of the system entirely;
• Permit the licensed works to be used only for nonprofit educational or research purposes and without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage;
• Establish eligibility requirements for a CMO seeking ECL authorization, including evidence demonstrating its level of representation among authors in the relevant field, the consent of its membership to the ECL proposal, and its adherence to standards of transparency, accountability, and good governance;
• Provide for the negotiation of license rates and terms between the CMO and a prospective user, subject to a dispute resolution process;
• Require the parties to negotiate terms obligating the user, as a condition of its license, to implement and maintain reasonable digital security measures controlling access to the relevant works;
• Require the CMO to collect and distribute royalties to rightsholders within a specified period and to conduct diligent searches for non-members for whom it has collected payments;
• Provide for the disposition of royalties remaining unclaimed after a specified period;
• Include a provision expressly preserving the ability of users to assert fair use in connection with mass digitization projects; and
• Sunset five years after the legislation’s effective date

The three categories of work mention are: 1) literary works; 2) pictorial or graphic works published as illustrations, diagrams, or similar adjuncts to literary works; and 3) photographs. A CMO is a “collective management organization” which would represent copyright holders in those three categories. Copyright holders would be able to opt-out of it as noted in bullet point three.

The short version. There’d be one group you could go to so that one can figure out who owns what copyright, get permission, and pay whatever fees. Anyone can opt-out of it. It would also be a pilot program, not some permanent thing.

Unlike what the video says, and has been claimed, there is no forcing anyone to participate in some program, and there’s no loss of your copyright unless you register everything and anything. Things remain the same, you can control your own copyright, or you can opt-in to the CMO, under the suggestions made in this report. Keep in mind. THERE IS NO LEGISLATION CURRENTLY BEFORE CONGRESS.

I work in advocacy, and it makes an organization/individuals look foolish when they rail against something, when that something hasn’t been laid out. There is a “notice of inquiry” where the Copyright Office wants to hear from you about their report and suggestions, not some legislation that does not exist, and especially not about a misunderstanding of what those suggestions are.

What is the 2008 Shawn Bently Act S.2913, aka the Orphan Works Act? The legislation was last introduced by Sen. Patrick Leahy (a staunch supporter of the MPAA and Hollywood) and died when it moved to the House. This is the summary:

Limits the remedies in a civil action brought for infringement of copyright in an orphan work, notwithstanding specified provisions and subject to exceptions, if the infringer meets certain requirements, including proving that: (1) the infringer performed and documented a reasonably diligent search in good faith to locate and identify the copyright owner before using the work, but was unable to locate and identify the owner; and (2) the infringing use of the work provided attribution to the owner of the copyright, if known. Requires a search to include methods that are reasonable and appropriate given the circumstances, including in some circumstances: (1) Copyright Office records that are not available through the Internet; and (2) resources for which a charge or subscription is imposed.

Limits monetary compensation to reasonable compensation for the use of the infringed work. Prohibits such compensation if the infringer is a nonprofit educational institution, museum, library, or archive, or a public broadcasting entity and if the infringer proves that: (1) the infringement is performed without any purpose of commercial advantage and is primarily educational, religious, or charitable in nature;and (2) the infringer ceases the infringement expeditiously after receiving notice of the claim for infringement. Allows injunctive relief to prevent or restrain infringement, subject to exception and limitation.

Directs the Register of Copyrights to: (1) undertake a process to certify that databases are available that facilitate searching for pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works protected by copyright; (2) report to the House and Senate judiciary committees on the implementation and effects of certain amendments made by this Act, including any recommendations for legislative changes; and (3) report to those committees on remedies for copyright infringement claims by an individual copyright owner or a related group of copyright owners seeking small amounts of monetary relief.

The legislation was opposed by groups on both sides of copyright. Some felt it made infringing easier, others felt that “reasonably diligent search” wasn’t defined well enough. What it didn’t do was rewrite copyright law as we know it. While flawed, the legislation was an attempt to make it easier to contact copyright holders to get permission or pay for permission. You can read the full legislation yourself1.

Really in the end. The initial video and posts that started this response are hyperbolic and dangerous in the lack of facts and misrepresentation of the truth. The fact they have been shared thousands of times and the video watched almost 40,000 times is sad in that it uses scare tactics devoid of reality, and misrepresents how government works. The lack of the basic understanding about the legislative process by many is apparent, and appalling.

Below is a refresher of the basics, but the lesson here is, before you get worked up about legislation, do some research and come up with your own conclusion. Don’t take others at their word. Knowledge is power.

Update: For those interested in the issue and want to learn more about the actual problems with the Copyright Office’s proposal, TechDirt has a nice breakdown that shows the general issues. It also reiterates what I wrote above that this does not actually change copyright law as stated by others, and it is not legislation before Congress, etc.

Yes, however, let's give proper credit to the site that article comes from instead of copying and pasting the material. Don't want to steal someone else's work, right?
GraphicPolicy.com- Don't Believe The Hyperbole There's No Orphan Works Law Before Congress2

The internet is worldwide so I believe that other countries will give their two cents as well. Congress can't make the internet their own, ya know.

Yeah, sorry. It wasn't my intention to copy/paste the whole article, just a link to the page.. I'm not completely sure what happened there.

Did anyone note the part of the video that talked about an organization outside the U.S. that was presently collecting all the royalties from books with illustrations sold internationally? If you did a children's book and it was popular enough to be sold in Europe, you would never see the royalties from your European sales. It would all go to some mysterious group claiming to represent you. They said about $45 million in royalties were collected. So where does all that $ go?