Protect our rights as ARTISTS to own our works !
Do not let the Orphan Works bill to pass !

Its about us as artists loosing the rights to our work.
[link]

this is the article.. Its pretty long, thats if you want to read it
[link]ageone&article_no=3605&age=1


it's very important to any artists out there. please check the link.. our copyrights ( past , present, future ) are in danger of becoming null and void because of this bill they're trying to pass!
If left un-attended , they are trying to pass this Bill by summer!
JOIN the FIGHT! Protect our rights as artists!!!

EDIT : the audio link i have is temporarily not working but here's a better explanation and link to the article and bill. thanks to Sh3lly :
US Congress is planning on passing a bill this summer called "Orphan Works". Artists stand to lose the rights to their own art with this bill and it's just another way for corporations to make more money at your own expense.

"Currently, you don't have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.

What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries.

These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work.

It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away.

With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense.

This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk!

If the Orphan Works legislation passes, you and I and all creatives will lose virtually all the rights to not only our future work but to everything we've created over the past 34 years, unless we register it with the new, untested and privately run (by the friends and cronies of the U.S. government) registries. Even then, there is no guarantee that someone wishing to steal your personal creations won't successfully call your work an orphan work, and then legally use it for free.

In short, if Congress passes this law, YOU WILL LOSE THE RIGHT TO MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR OWN CREATIONS! "

Please read the full article here. It's a long article but it's worth it. It is important that artists stand up for their rights! [link]ageone&article_no=3605&age=1



Please pass the message to everyone you know.

EDIT: Question, this is something that is being considered in the US and the UK. How does this bill affect other countries considering the presence of the internet?