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Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All the Rights to Your Own Art

Mark Simon is mad as hell and, in this month's "Mind Your Business," he tells you why you should be too.
By Mark Simon | Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 12:00 am
Posted In | Magazines: AnimationWorld
Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership.
Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership

Brad Holland: If a user can't find a registered work at the Copyright Office, hasn't the Copyright Office facilitated the creation of an orphaned work?

David O. Carson: Copyright owners will have to register their images with private registries.

BH: But what if I exercise my exclusive right of copyright and choose not to register?

DOC: If you want to go ahead and create an orphan work, be my guest!

This cavalier and disrespectful dialogue should have you seeing red. Who the hell does he think he is? Carson should be fired and RUN OUT OF WASHINGTON!

None of this could happen with our current laws. Our current laws work and they protect us and our creations.

The only people who will benefit from the copyright law change are those who can't create work on their own or companies who stand to make a lot of money from using our works of art. They make contributions to congressmen, which is why they get what they want. We need to stand up and be heard. Every one of you need to write your senators and representatives. We have to protect our livelihoods. It's that serious.

Plus, the technologies being developed for locating visual art don't work well enough. On March 13, 2008, PicScout, the creators of one of the software applications used in the registries, stated to the House IP subcommittee:

"Our technology can match images, or partial information of an image, with 99% success."

A 1% margin of error is huge when you consider the millions of searches performed for art every day. That means for every million searches, 10,000 images could be orphaned.

Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won't be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you've ever created.

This is just one of the many reasons why INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting your copyright. The United States is about to break international law by making us register our works. The people behind the bill say it's not forced registration, but you won't have any rights unless you register. THIS IS SEMANTICS! Of course, this is forced registration and we can't stand for it!

There are many, many other problems with the Orphan Works legislation. As a creator, YOU MUST understand what is going on.

For additional information on Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists.

This is not something that is going to go away easily. We need to be vocal NOW!

This legislation has been beaten or delayed for the past two years and they will keep trying until it passes. This is no time to be quiet and see what happens. What will happen depends on you. Send e-mails and call your congressmen. Ownership of your own creations depends on it.

Roger Dean sums this up well. "Where are the colleges and universities in all this? Has the whole world gone to sleep?"

GET ON ORPHAN WORKS E-MAIL LIST
To be notified of the latest information on the Orphan Works bill and when to contact your legislators, send an e-mail and ask to be added to the Orphan Works list.

AUDIO INTERVIEW LINK
I have recorded a fantastic interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrators' Partnership regarding this bill and what it means to us as artists. Please listen and learn more about how you may lose ownership of all your art and photos. This article and the recorded interview are available for anyone to use in print or online. Please forward this information to every person and group you know so that we can work together and protect our creations and livelihoods.

Mark Simon is an award-winning animation producer/director and speaker. He speaks around the world on subjects about art, animation and TV production. His copyrighted companies may be found online at www.SellYourTvConceptNow.com and www.Storyboards-East.com. He may be reached at marksimonbooks@yahoo.com.

Portions of this article use information and phrasing provided by the Illustrators' Partnership.

The opinions expressed in this article reflect those of the columnist and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AWN, Inc. and its affiliates.

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Comments


http://oncopyright.copyright.com/2008/03/17/orphan-works-are-back-on-congress%E2%80%99s-radar-screen/ Looks like it hasn't been formally re-introduced, but it's definitely peeking around the corner. I say it at least warrants a letter to the senator...apparently the only thing that kept it from passing in 2006 was the opposition of photographers and artists' groups. Also, where did you hear about the 'private copyright corporations?' I haven't been able to find another article that mentions them.
Anne (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
They already do this same type of stuff with patents. If you don't file your device at some office by going through mounds of paperwork before displaying it out in public and someone sees it and decides to do that instead of you they now own the device you created. It's lunacy and would cause the same type of reaction it has caused in the technological development field. Almost no display of whats available or could be available in the public arena rather than the cornucopia it truly is. (see work/history of marko rodin, tesla, or mounds of items in the patent office) Simply due to fear of some hungry crook with a pen, a lot more time, and money than an inventor or an artist(or both combined) would ever have. Imagine the monkey wrench it would throw into individual creativity... Deviant Art and conceptart.org would be barren and any artist left paranoid whether they should display there work or not to others. Pondering if they should get a second job to pay for it if they should choose to do so. As a struggling artist/inventor type it really sickens me as to what the legal system and corporations think they can do and does at present when it comes to the work of creative individuals. Back to the woods... and back to the drawing board if this passes.
Spunjo McDohl (suikoden) (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
With all due respect, this is a pretty bad article. It suggests to readers that they should panic when there is no need for panic; it misstates what orphaned works laws are about and how they work; and it claims that this legislation is a plot to make Bill Gates richer, while ignoring the legitimate reasons many museums, universities and libraries say they need an orphaned works law in order to preserve historic works. Reading this article makes readers less informed. I hope AWN publishes a follow-up article providing a more accurate and balanced view of the issue.
Barry Deutsch (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
You guys should make a petition or something O: .
Panda XIII (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
This article is complete hyperbole and fearmongering. The author should be ashamed of himself for posting such utter lies online and getting so many artists worked up about nothing.
jessica hyland (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
On one hand, it sounds like something absolutely horrible is being described here. The idea of a private copyright registry is simply ridiculous and should never be allowed; the hypothesis that this sort of thing seems like a play from big business seems spot on as well. However...You absolutely ruin what could've been an otherwise impassioned plea for sanity by coming off sounding every bit like the evil corporations you're supposed to be rallying against. Theft, stealing? Oh please, spare me the RIAA style melodramatics. This isn't 2001 anymore so I had hoped we could move beyond the poor attempts at character assassination meant to sway those who do not firmly grasp the difference between the tangible and intangible. Furthermore I'd say you're actually ignoring the fact that there are legitimate reasons to require registration (With the government of course, not a corporation.) Such as to allow for someone to be able to identify the rights holder of a specific work, which enables them to be tracked down and asked for permission. Or that without any clear owner or any clear date of creation that can be made apparent outside of a registration date, no one can know within any certainty when the protection on a work might expire. I think you'd get a lot more support on this issue (Hint: having artists that read the internet alone isn't going to get you to change congress' opinion, you need to get the general public involved too for it to work) if you'd taken that into consideration.
Chris Gregory (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
i agree that this alw should not be passed it takes away the right of artwork its like saying that the work is worthless because it does not allow it to have vaule anyone can copy and use your work, without permission? this could destroy incomes, vus probably crashing creative motives, why create something if by right it is on longer yours? our culture needs art, in any form and by taking away the rights of artists it destroys part of its self.
zoe cheale (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
This is so extremely sick! Ive spread it around to everyone I know and to all IRC channels Im on and I cant say that the responses are what I was expecting... "I dont care", "So what!?", "Like anyone care?" is just a few of them... =S is there anything wrong with programmers and webdesigners? And I hope anyone could answer a little question, would this affect the whole web, including swedish servers content? in that case the swedish government should do something to stop this!
Per Johansson (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
There has been a great deal of inflammatory overreaction surrounding this issue. There is no legislation pending before Congress, and a thorough read of the Office of Copyright's 2006 report on orphaned works shows that great care is being taken to consider the rights of living creators. Everyone should take the time to read that report in full: http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/orphan-report-full.pdf Or at least read this: http://maradydd.livejournal.com/374886.html KG
Kevin Geiger (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
As an artist who cannot afford registration fees I just want to say HOW DARE THEY!!! no one should profit from anothers artwork unless they have signed permission or have paid the artist for the right to do so.
Dawn Harris (not verified) | Sun, 04/13/2008 - 00:00 | Permalink
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