APA Activism - US Copyright Office Request for Comments

The United States Copyright Office has requested a “Notice of Inquiry for Remedies for Small Copyright Claims.”  American Photographic Artists (APA) is grateful for the opportunity to submit comments and is working on a submittal that will be comprehensive in scope. The submittal date is January 17, 2012.  View the request HERE.

APA appreciates the request of the US Copyright Office to submit comments on this issue.  APA has a core value of advocacy for our members and all photographers.  To advocate at times may mean to be an activist for change.  The Proposal presented is forward thinking but achievable and offers real change solutions to an ever-present and increasing problem facing photographers and all copyright holders, the ability to undertake a full-scale litigation of a copyright infringement.

APA has participated with other visual art organizations in discussions on the subject of Remedies for Copyright Small Claims.  Those organizations include American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), Graphic Artists Guild (GAG), Professional Photographers of America (PPA), Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA), Editorial Photographers (EP) and National Press Photographers Association (NPPA).  Even though each of these organizations may be filing their own comments with recommendations that may be very divergent, we all have the same goal of protecting the copyright of our members, and all copyright holders, as well as achieving a fair system that provides more opportunity for those copyright holders that are infringed upon to receive affordable entry into pursuing litigation to defend their constitutional right.