Passionate Testimony . . .
Stock Asylum Staff Report
March 23, 2006
In a written statement that may voice concerns about the proposed orphan
works legislation better than anything yet presented to Congress, the
Illustrators' Partnership (IPA) claims that the proposal "risks
orphaning millions of valuable copyrights that cannot otherwise be distinguished
from true orphaned works."
"The inability to distinguish between abandoned copyrights and those whose owners are simply hard to find is the Catch 22 of the orphan works project," IPA said in four pages of impassioned testimony sent to the The U. S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property, which is considering the proposal.
"Users who wish to exploit work royalty-free have every incentive to minimize its value," said the IPA. "Congress should not rely on their assertions as evidence that the work has little or no value in commercial markets."
IPA is among numerous visual artists' organizations acting quickly to voice strong opposition to the orphan works proposal recently presented to Congress by the U. S. Copyright Office. The proposal to significantly change copyright law would let publishers, advertisers, museums and others use copyrighted materials when the copyright owner is not known or cannot be found. visual artists are especially concerned because their work is often used without attribution, making much of it vulnerable to being declared "orphaned."
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), the Picture Archive Council of America, and the Professional Photographers of America have been leading the charge in Congress and are currently involved in closed-door meetings with the congressional staff, the Copyright Office, and proponents of the proposal.
At the same time, other groups like Stock Artists Alliance (SAA), the Graphic Artists Guild, Editorial Photographers and Advertising photographers of America have all worked hard to alert their members and encourage them to make their voices heard in Congress. SAA even started a blog on the subject.
"It's unclear to us why this whole process is being fast-tracked," said ASMP's Executive Director Eugene Mopsik recently. "But, the interests of independent publications photographers are being sacrificed to the interests of the libraries, museums and universities."
Noting that stock photography distributors and creators are just starting to get a handle on copyright infringement in the digital age by using new technologies like those offered by PicScout and Digimarc, SAA's Betsy Reid contended that "all our efforts are going to be gutted by this new legislation."
"Here we are trying to educate photographers about their rights and now we have this legislation that lets infringers off the hook," said the SAA executive director.
The recently submitted testimony by the Illustrator's Partnership makes a number of other points about the orphan works proposal, including:
"The use of any work without the author's permission violates the
author's exclusive right to permit or deny usage. Similarly, payment
for use after the fact violates a basic principal of negotiation: an
author whose work has already been exploited has no leverage to negotiate
for a higher fee than the user is willing to pay."
"Artists have the right to maintain the value of their work by
keeping it out of downscale or inappropriate markets."
"Many artists in markets such as advertising and proprietary research
enter into exclusive licensing arrangements with their clients. Because
these artists are rarely permitted to sign and mark their work, this
art would be subject to orphan status from its conception."
"Because every infringement of a managed copyright will create
a family tree of potential successive infringements, samples of infringed
work will linger in the public domain even if a rights holder comes
forward to stop the infringement. These orphans-of-orphans will be available
to other would-be users who would be justified by OW (orphan works)
law in re-infringing the work. In this fashion, the effect of OW law
would be viral."
"The OW amendment in effect re-imposes formalities. By forcing
the rights holder to rely on registries, metadata and notice as a condition
of copyright protection it violates the letter and spirit of the Berne
Convention (an international agreement on copyright matters).
The IPA web site is at: http://www.illustratorspartnership.org
PicScout's is at: http://www.picscout.com
Digimarc is at: http://www.digimarc.com
For The Stock Asylum's Orphan Works Section that includes links to various concerned organization, contact information for members of congressional committees considering the orphan works proposal, a copy of the proposed legislation, and other articles and information, click here.
