Listen to the interview - dear God listen. You know... I don't really ever get so fired up that I think about writing letters to congressmen etc but I think I will in this case.

Please repost this on your own account, or do your own stamp, feature it, write a journal. Every artist must know and every artist should care.

I'm from germany, so I don't have officials to contact about this, but this doesn't mean that I should sit at the sidelines and just watch!!!

In the states they are about to pass a bill, that makes art stealing legal and forces an artist to pay for getting each and every single piece of art he did registered.

"You don't register it, you don't own it, good luck."
Don't let this stand!

You don't believe it, well, check this out:

Audio interview:
http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

Text interview from AWN.COM:
This article was printed from Animation World Magazine.
Visit this article online at
http://mag.awn.com/?article_no=3605

Contact your Elected Officials!
GraySapphire's DA Journal
Budgie's DA Journal

Please listen, this is a bill that is in the works to make artists copyright every single piece of art you do - if you do 3 sketches for a commission and the commissioner picks 1 - the other two are then "up for grabs" under this new legislation unless you pay to copyright it. Don't lose all your rights over the things you create!

yes! <3 thanks for posting that =D
We need to spread the word :3
maybe link to graysapphire/budgie's dA journal also?

Originally Posted by xlightwingx

yes! <3 thanks for posting that =D
We need to spread the word :3
maybe link to graysapphire/budgie's dA journal also?

I haven't seen those yet, I'll go look - thanks!

I've seen so many journals about this on deviantART already, and it needs to stop D8

I will contact my senators... not my 53 representatives... well, maybe. But as long as the senate shoots the bill down, it will stay dead. And if worst comes to worst, I will bombard the president every one of the ten days he has to veto that Orphan Bill.

It is just not right. If it somehow ends up passing, I will take down every singe piece of art I have on the internet. I can not afford this. D8

Wow, that is not cool.
I was not aware of this issue until today. I saw a DeviantArt journal about it, but I do not usually read journals so I dismissed it.

Originally Posted by PlatinumChild

If it somehow ends up passing, I will take down every singe piece of art I have on the internet.

I really hope it does not end up passing. Should it, I would do the exact same thing...

Ugh, sometimes, I just hate how much control the government takes over our lives and rights...

True, but if it weren't for them, we'd be even more screwed. They keep us from falling into chaos, but they're good at ticking us off.

I actually saw this, this morning on Budgie's Journal on DA.

It is really the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I'm agreeing with everyone else that if the bill passes I'll be taking all of my important pieces of the internet.

I mean I have my Art AP projects posted on the internet. It's my classwork and I suddenly won't have ownership of it unless I pay for it? And even if I do that's not for sure.

Please guys, read up on your facts FIRST before stirring up a frenzy. The bill itself DOES NOT EXIST at this point in time. It was up for voting back in 2006, but was shot down and died. There was a subcommittee hearing on it in March, but I repeat:

THE BILL DOES NOT EXIST.

Writing your elected officials on something that does not exist does not sound to me to be a good idea.

Also, read the actual legislation and don't just trust one source.

Originally Posted by Sriae

Please guys, read up on your facts FIRST before stirring up a frenzy. The bill itself DOES NOT EXIST at this point in time. It was up for voting back in 2006, but was shot down and died. There was a subcommittee hearing on it in March, but I repeat:

THE BILL DOES NOT EXIST.

Writing your elected officials on something that does not exist does not sound to me to be a good idea.

Also, read the actual legislation and don't just trust one source.

This guy may sound like a jackass, but he's actually got a point. Even in that interview, it's all about when it came up before now. The guy in the interview even says that they havent legitimately seen what the bill is like now, and that protesting to the government wont do much good because they'll just ignore it.
I still all for making sure it's never passed and never comes up,
but that little detail may be a little bit of a thorn in the artist's side.

Well I wasn't planning on writing up any of my Congressmen until it comes out and I know that the bill is to my disliking. I know that if it turns out to be anything like how the previous one was written out to be then I will be protesting for sure and removing my art work if it comes into effect.

I should probably join that mailing list so I can get information as more becomes available.

Made us a lovely little image to put in sigs, if anyone so chooses...



Fuwahh, I don't want to even think about it anymore.
It makes me UBER pissed.


EDIT:
Tinypic version (for those of us with overcrowded sigs. x'D;;)
http://i32.tinypic.com/wlezj8.png

Well if..and only if the bill comes to be passed because like others before this have said it was shot down and went into reworkings. Who knows it might be to our advantage in the future. If its not then we rally up people and try and start a big protest.

It's fake. There was something like this going around in 06, but it never was voted upon. Besides, there are so many contradictions in it that it wouldn't be able to come into bill form in the first place without an insane amount of opposition.


http://maradydd.livejournal.com/374886.html


Just look there. It's not full on scholarly and such, but it points out a lot of the obvious discrepencies in this.

Yreka, you'd better check out THIS site:
http://judiciary.house.gov/oversight.aspx?ID=427

....it's not fake.
Yes, it's not very far as of now, but it's a very real possibility, and it's being revived.

is this worldwide or US only? o.o thats what confuses me the most, because wouldn't an artists copyright fall under their countries laws?

If this isn't right someone correct me.

From what I've heard it will technically affect other countries too. Because people from other countries post things on the internet, and the U.S.'s law says it's orphaned then it can be used without permission.

This is HORRIBLE. I'm going to contact my rep in both the place that I'm from, AND the town that I'm enrolled in college in right now.... Whenever it comes back up. If they're kicking it around again, it seems more likely to come back. I'm not looking forward to even the contemplation of this law.

A government that practices theft of it's citizens' property violates it's own justifications. It deserves no consideration as a just form of government and thus has no right to exist.
Theft of intellectual property and art is the same as theft of material possessions, if not worse.
"Orphan Works"

Reminds me of something I read somewhere about a Moratorium on Brains.

EDIT: Also, allow me to make the connection to fucking Communism.

I hope nothing like that ever passes. I wouldn't be posting any of my art work anywhere on the Internet then. I would also take down all my writing. If something like that did come into effect how would artists be able to make money int he first place. I don't think it would fly since there's too many people that depend on their art work to make money. And i agree with whoever stated that things like this are connected with communism. It seems to me at least that the government is heading in that direction, but that's a whole other post for another day.

Thank you everyone for posting! Sorry I've been a bit of a ghost - popped in a posted this then left.

I'm going to bring this to a debate in my Art II and Advanced Art classes I'm teaching tomorrow, so I'm trying to find both sides of the argument/bill. I'll let you know if anything interesting pops up in either my research or during the discussions tomorrow!

If this happens, you can bet you'll be seeing negative amounts of gold under my username, because I will take down EVERYTHING. And then trawl the interwebs looking for my stuff other people may have hosted. This frightens me.
I am contacting my Reps and Senators next week.

...I really don't think this will ever come to pass. There would be such outrage over art theft that even if the law did come into effect, I doubt it would stay that way for long. :\

The moment I heard about that, believe me, I RUSHED out for more information on it...because it seemed a bit ridiculous to me. And I was absolutely right - it's not half as bad as a lot of people are making it out to be. I looked at the actual bill, and NOWHERE does it state that all artwork is up for grabs unless it's put in a paid copyright registry - that's just a doomsday theory people have come up with, for fear of what the need for searchable databases could turn into.

Unfortunately, not everyone is fluent in legalese. Only reason I am is because I used to want to be a lawyer (and sometimes I still kinda do). So, I responded to a few of the common misconceptions in my dA journal:

(this is a direct quote; all I edited was the emotes, so a little bit is still dA specific)

:arrow: Rumor: You will have to pay to have your work copyrighted.
:arrow: Fact: Paying to put your work in a copyright registry is a safeguard, and only a safeguard. As it stands, all artwork, writing, and anything else of the like; ALL our creations are automatically copyrighted to us...and if you read the bill closely, you will see that this is not changed if this law passes. Having your work registered in a paid clearinghouse will not become a necessity; all it serves to do is make it available in a permanent database, thus drastically lowering the chances that your artwork can be declared "orphaned." It will probably be unnecessary for you if you're on dA (which you obviously are), and especially so if you watermark or sign your work.

:arrow: Rumor: Even if you sign/watermark your work, if someone just edits your signature out, they can use it under this law.
:arrow: Fact: If you can prove that all copies of your work that you authorized for display had your clear signature or watermark on them, then you still win the case, as you have proven that the infringer did not perform a reasonably diligent search to find you. The case would then be tried under normal copyright law, not as an orphan work case.

Furthermore, if it is found that the infringer had found and used an unauthorized, unsigned copy posted by someone ELSE, you will probably be able to find the person who posted the doctored copy and take THEM to court.

:arrow: Rumor: If your artwork is declared "orphaned," you will have no legal remedies if you find it being used for profit.
:arrow: Fact: Your rights ARE cut dramatically, yes. You cannot demand removal. However, you CAN step up with the proof that you made the piece, just as you can now, and you can demand that the infringer choose between either paying you a reasonable amount for the use of your work or removing it. Sadly, it does become their choice. Also, if you prove that it COULD easily be linked back to you; that the search made by the infringer was NOT reasonably diligent, you may still be entitled to everything you're entitled to now.

:arrow: Rumor: If your artwork is declared "orphaned," anyone can take it and say they created it.
:arrow: Fact: If someone uses your artwork, they must credit the original artist in any way they can. They CANNOT say they created it. They CANNOT say they were granted express permission. They CANNOT credit it to another artist unless it is an honest mistake. If they know your name, they have to use it. If they know your website, they have to use it. And hell - if they know your dA name, they cannot declare it orphaned.

Now, this isn't to say I'm for this law, HELL no. I'm voting against it if it comes to vote, I've signed petitions against it, and I am writing letters to my representatives asking them to reject this law. But if it does pass...there are still things we can do to protect ourselves. And I want to make everyone aware of them.