More Meetings Planned . . .

Stock Asylum Staff Report
March 17, 2006

The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) said on this date that more meetings are planned in Washington DC to try to work out disagreements over proposed orphan works legislation.

in an e-mail to members, the organization that represents publication photographers said another closed-door meeting is scheduled for Monday with additional meetings tentatively scheduled for the following two Mondays.

ASMP said a meeting was held earlier this week under strict confidentiality rules. The gathering included ASMP counsel Victor Perlman, Professional Photographers of America Executive Director David Trust, Picture Archive Council of America counselor Steve Metalitz, U.S. House of Representatives staff, and a small number of organizations representing copyright users.

"The meetings were exploratory and ran the gamut from dispassionate to heart-felt, but were always controlled and professional," ASMP said in its communication.

The photographers' organization, which is representing its own members and those of several other professional groups like Stock Artists Alliance, Editorial Photographers and the Graphic Artists' Guild, said, "Today, a set of joint proposals for changes in the proposed legislation are being submitted for consideration in the meeting planned for next Monday."

Asked if ASMP is more optimistic about the possibility of positive changes in the proposed legislation, Eugene Mopsik, executive director of the organization, responded that,"If there is any optimism, it is simply because we are still talking."

Under orphan works legislation proposed by the U.S. Copyright Office, museums, book publishers, advertisers and others would be able to use copyrighted materials of all types when the copyright owner is not known or cannot be found. The proposal would significantly limit legal remedies available to copyright owners who surface later.

No official legislation has been introduced in either the House or the Senate, but committees in both houses are seriously studying the proposal.

In a related matter, ASMP's Perlman met with senior legislative counsel for Senator Patrick Leahy, of Vermont. Leahy is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, which will consider any orphan works bill in the Senate.

"It turns out that Senator Leahy is very sympathetic," ASMP said. "He is an avid photographer and his son is and AP (Associated Press) photographer. Senator Leahy's counsel was very interested in hearing about any possible proposals to lessen the impact of the proposed legislation. Specifically, the creation of image databases, the inclusion of copyright notice and registration into the workflow of existing image management software, and the functionality of such entities as PicScout and ImageTracker were of interest. The meeting went on for an hour and half and Victor reports that Senator Leahy is perhaps our best friend in Congress.

For The Stock Asylum's orphan works section, click here.

For a previous story about the Congressional meetings, click here.

For an in-depth story on orphan works, click here.