 Guild
Advocacy
Working to raise industry standards, and improve the ability of visual creators to achieve satisfying
and rewarding careers.
The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 is still under consideration, but has more hurdles to cross before we’re done.
You’re faced with a critical choice, since the Senate “hotlined” passage of S. 2913 on Friday. Either the Senate version (S.2913) or the House version (H.R. 5889) is likely to become law. It’s up to you to tilt the legislation in your favor.
To take action, and support the only legislation that includes a “Notice of Use” provision, (which protects your rights for the long term), read the bill as it stands now, click on “Action Alerts” to send a letter to your representatives.
Here’s a link to the Senate version of the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. Click here.
On Friday, May 16, 2008, the Guild Board voted unanimously against the Senate version of the Orphan Works bill, known as Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008.
The Guild has been advising members of Congress about the “orphan works” issue since 2006 and participated in discussions with the Copyright Office since 2005. The Guild withheld comment about the Senate bill until work was finalized. That position changed when the completed version was announced only hours before the Senate committee vote last Thursday, May 15, 2008.
We are asking that all graphic artists write to their respective Senators urging them to amend the bill to include a notice of use (NOU) when the bill comes to the Senate floor for a vote. If the bill is not amended to include the NOU, we urge the Senate to vote NO.
A draft of a form letter is posted for your use on our advocacy portal. Click here to access it.
Please read the linked PDF of the Guild's press release below. The information it contains is important.
Tricia McKiernan
Administrative Director
Graphic Artists Guild
Press Release: Guild Opposes Senate Orphan Works Bill (Click here)
Orphan Works - Background Information
In answer to your questions regarding Orphan Works and the Guild's current position on the bills:
Orphan Works is a very important issue to Guild members. It has been our top advocacy priority for the past two years. The Guild opposed the first Orphan Works bill, and, because we knew it would come back, we were ready with our lobbyist and other creators' organizations to suggest changes to eliminate the harm posed to artists and their intellectual property. Some, but not all of our changes have been incorporated.
As you know, bills in Congress are amended many times as they move through the process, and since we're still pushing for further improvements, it would be unwise for us to take a position on either bill at this time, or ask artists to write letters. Rest assured, we are monitoring the bills very closely.
There's a lot of information and ideas swirling around the internet about Orphan Works and we can't prevent that. We urge you to continue to educate yourself on the issues involved. And note the Guild's advocacy committee is open to any interested members who wish to volunteer and learn.
Some of the feedback we received from concerned members is about the "private registries" issue and the need to "re-register" their works with them. Neither the House nor the Senate drafts of the bill contain the word “registries,” but rather they require users to search non-governmental databases of copyrighted works. The purpose of any database is not meant to take the place of copyright registration, but to have a way to search for visual images. Any participation in such a database would be voluntary.
Right now, the Copyright Office does not have the capability to search for images on their web site and they have indicated that would not change in the near future.
It remains to be seen how these non-governmental databases would develop if the House version of the bill actually passes. It's also premature to suggest that there will be a cost to the content provider for uploading any images to such a database. It should be noted that some organizations are already experimenting with ways to help search for owners of images, such as the Picture Archive Council of America and the Copyright Clearance Center.
We're working on getting more information to you over the next couple of days. In the meantime, in order to clarify some of the differences in the current bills from earlier proposals for Orphan Works, we've attached a comparison chart of the 2008 House version of the bill with the original Orphan Works proposal, courtesy of the ASMP.
Point by Point: The Original Proposal vs. H.R. 5889 (Click Here to View)
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