12.08.08
Orphan Works advocates defend their proposals by saying they’re necessary to put users in touch with copyright owners. They say this isn’t happening now because of a market failure in commercial markets.
Speaking at a Congressional Seminar March 31, 2006, Copyright Office attorney Jule Sigall explained why they believed artists needed Congress to “push” them to [...]
Orphan Works: A Lame Duck Countdown
Part IV: Moving the Cats’ Food
12.04.08
The Copyright Office received about 215 relevant letters to their Orphan Works Study. From this they deduced a claim of widespread market failure in commercial markets and concluded that government should “incentivize” creators to register their work with for-profit registries as a condition of protecting [...]
Orphan Works: A Lame Duck Countdown, Part III 215 Letters
Nearly 300 million people live in the US. How many of them does it take to make an “orphan works problem”? Apparently 215 (give or take a few). That’s the only conclusion we can draw from the Report on Orphan Works released by the Copyright [...]
Orphan Works: A Lame Duck Countdown:
Part II. The Legislative Blueprint
12.02.08
The “legislative blueprint” for the Orphan Works Act was not drafted by the Copyright Office after their year-long Orphan Works study, but before it, by law students at the Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic.
Orphan Works: Lame Duck Countdown
12.01.08
Part I. Little Known Facts
Congress will reconvene for a lame duck session next week. That means Orphan Works backers may try again to pass their bill by suspending the rules. We believe this bill is too controversial to be passed by backroom dealing. It would let commercial interests harvest and monetize [...]
FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP
An Unprecedented Grassroots Response
10.6.08
Thank you to everyone who wrote, phoned and faxed Congress during the last hectic weeks. Speaking virtually with one voice, artists have rejected the Orphan Works Act.
Does that mean it’s dead? No. Far from it. Lobbyists will continue to promote it, this Congress may yet find a way to [...]