Just Say No! To The Orphan Works Act.
Okay so some of you may remember my post regarding copyright issue and the Orphan Works Act. If not here’s a refresher.
The bill (in a nutshell) was created so those who found stuff (like art, music, writing or your family photos) online, could use them for their own purposes (whatever that may be) as long as they put reasonable effort in finding the original owner to get permission for use. The Act will take away the automatic copyright currently granted and force artists (writers, musicians and maybe even your personal online photo album) to register everything for a fee. (Um Hum . . . thats right) And most importantly if the searcher doesn’t find you in the registry or you don’t reply in time, they can use the image (again, for whatever purpose) and you have absolutely no recourse. (scary huh?)
So I was looking through some squidoo lenses today and I came upon this lens from a fellow equestrian artist on copyright and Orphan Works. But here’s the best part . . . She has a link where you can sign up to Say NO!
And then cast your minds back to my post called
Horns of a dilemma: I would really love to get that George Stubbs original painting for sale on ebay . . . but it just feels so wrong. (a rant)
And looky here . . . d-artist also talks about a free-to-join group called the Equine Arts Protection League which was created to help artists protect themselves from copyright theft in places like Ebay.
Yes I’m signing up.
Tags: business