Salvation in a Newsletter

In the spirit of full disclosure I need to clarify that following is an extract of material from ConceptArt.org / Massive Black's website posted here by one our CCG members. - J.Gilpin, CCG Coordinator.

In an effort to give back and to begin to take on bigger challenges as a community, ConceptArt.Org has been quietly working to solve the pending Orphan Bill (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc for more information on what we are up against and what we desperately created a solution for).

The new viewer is here: http://www.conceptart.org/search/index.php?cat=bestof&forumid=5

This summer we helped send thousands of emails to the members of the US House and Senate to stop this bill. What did we get in return? Canned email form letters thanking us for sharing our views. The bill drafts went the House and Senate anyway. The artists, professionals, and creative organizations who were trying to protect artist rights were ignored by the US government completely. Realizing that even a hundred thousand signatures wont stop the copyright bill, at least that is how it looks from here, I got to thinking what we have to do to solve the problems right here at home.

Artists having to pay to be in searchable registries is potential problem number one. I believe this will be left to the private companies based on my research into who is supporting this horrible bill and what businesses are opening preparing for it. I went in and checked the domain registry to search to see if people were buying the domains (registermyart.com, artregistry.com, etc..etc...) and every one I searched was gone. This was the red flag that began the real push to solve this assault on artist rights. The corporate sharks are already preparing to feed it seems.

Since the business world reads the laws and tries to capitalize on the loopholes, it is obvious to me that this would happen. Money is already flowing that direction. My guess is the art registries will launch as soon as the law passes or shortly thereafter, unless some miracle happens. Smart buggers but not smart enough. Imagine the photographers who take five hundred images a day or more...ugh. Artists cannot pay for this service...at least those I know who produce quantities of work...and none should have to.

Anyway, that problem is now solved in low tech fashion here: http://www.conceptart.org/search/ind...rumid=5&page=1 ConceptArt.Org has created a search system for locating art and artists, essentially cutting off the paid registry industry before they can even get off the ground. Click the images and find the original thread. Click the artist name and contact them directly. This also keeps these readying companies from acting as middlemen, between the searcher and the artist who they wish to hire. There is no room for that in our business.

I designed and we rebuilt all our databases and set up conceptart.org servers to handle up to 200 terabytes of secure storage. This service is entirely free and is a gift to the community from ConceptArt.Org. It is also nice as you can now browse through the images on the site very quickly. What used to take a week to view, now takes hours. Released in this viewer are five hundred thousand images. More will be added shortly. When you post on the forums your images go in the copyright search registry we created. It is all automated for you. Just keep doing as you do and at least your work can be found. The watermark will be site wide, and contains the appropriate information.

You can search best of (five star threads) for fun...or from each forum if you click the "forums images" text tab...there are a ton of ways to look for stuff. key wording is in progress. That is the final piece of the basic search tool.

The idea is to simply kick the entire start up registry industry in the nuts before it can even learn to stand up by taking action ourselves.

Anyway...just some thoughts...my vision for where this heads is deeper than this but it should at least help some, i hope. I spoke at length with Brad Holland and others involved in putting up the fight for artists rights and we have solved two of the biggest issues.

1. That artists could have to pay for their works to be registered and protected in the US, and there is evidence supporting this.
2. That these companies would then act as middle men between prospective clients searching the databases by requiring the company or person searching to pay them for your information.

Obviously, these problems must not happen.

There are other problems being solved, as related to this bill and this is just a first step in the best defense is a good offense mentality when it comes to artist rights. If we sit around and wait for someone to provide these solutions it is going to cost us dearly. Instead, we are taking action.

Happy New Year too!


Jason Manley
Founding Director
ConceptArt.Org
President
www.massiveblack.com

09/29/08 - Orphan Works Act - Rep Chandler's Previous Response

Update: 11:00am - I just called Congressman Chandler's local district office (219-1366) to inquire about his support for S2913 or HR5889 (Orphan Works Act - Senate and House Bills). Please call and let him know your opposition to these bills and make the same inquiry so we can maybe get some attention directed to this issue while everyone is looking at the Home Mortgage Bailout! Becky at his office is going to fax my inquiry to his Washington Office. Stay tuned for more...

Here are some points of contention with this legislation:

• The high cost of digitizing and registering work with commercial databases will make compliance impossible for most artists.
• This will cause billions of unregistered works to fall into the public domain.
• To make money, commercial databases will have to promote and facilitate infringement.
• Infringer-friendly databases will compete with artists for clients.

This is the response letter I received from Ben Chandler's office after completing the online letter campaign earlier this summer to voice my opposition to the Orphan Works Act.

August 13, 2008

Dear Mr. Gilpin:

Thank you for contacting me with your views regarding H.R. 5889, the Orphan Works Act of 2008. As your representative in Congress, I think the most important part of my job is to understand your concerns so I can better represent the Sixth District in our nation's capital.

As you may know, the U.S. Copyright Office conducted a study in 2006 to identify the problems that have incurred with orphan works. Orphan works are defined as works which have owners who are difficult or even impossible to locate. This can often lead to unintentional infringement by subsequent artists and creators. As with most sensitive intellectual property issues, some of these situations can be addressed by existing copyright law, but many cannot.

H.R. 5889 was introduced on April 24, 2008 and provides compensation for owners harmed by deliberate infringements while also limiting the penalties for infringers who were diligent in their efforts to locate the copyright owner. This bill is currently awaiting consideration by the House Committee on the Judiciary.

While there are good reasons to reform our intellectual property laws, I also believe this bill, as written, may have unintended consequences for artists that would infringe upon their intellectual property rights. I will continue to closely monitor this issue as it moves through the House and will keep your thoughts in mind.

I appreciate the time you have taken to contact me about this matter. I hope you will stay in touch and contact my Lexington or Washington office if I can be of any further assistance.

Sincerely,

Ben Chandler
Member of Congress

I certainly hope that this letter indicates his OPPOSITION to the coming house bill!

The backers of this legislation SNUCK their Senate version of the bill through with a tactic called Hotlining - where the Senators are rushed to vote and don't even read the bill they are voting on!!!

09/28/08 - Nonpartisan Reporting - Orphan Works Act - Educate Yourself!

Many of you probably don't even know what the Orphan Works Act is or how it's passage into law will effect your life. Here are several articles or blog posts to consider:

Print media articles:

• NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/opinion/20lessig.html?_r=2&ex=1211947200&en=dcf3c1149318e375&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
• Boston-Herald: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1095637

Blogs:
Animation World Network

• Mark Simon: http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=Columns&article_no=3605
• CBR Forum: http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showthread.php?t=217795
• Drawn Blog: http://drawn.ca/2008/05/13/oppose-the-orphan-works-act-of-2008/

National Cartoonists Society

• The Daily Cartoonists: http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2008/05/12/ncs-urges-opposition-to-orphan-works-act-of-2008/
• Tom Richmond: http://www.tomrichmond.com/blog/?tag=orphan-works-act
• Crafting a Green World: http://craftingagreenworld.com/2008/06/23/the-shawn-bentley-orphan-works-act-how-new-copyright-legislation-will-affect-indie-artists-and-crafters/

American Association of Editorial Cartoonists

• The Daily Cartoonist: http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2008/09/28/aaec-responds-to-passage-of-orphan-works-act/
• AAEC official site: http://editorialcartoonists.com/news/article.cfm/629/

Professional Photography Groups: (yes, you guys need to ACT too! Any visual art work is at RISK!!)

• Photo Business News & Forum: http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2008/04/orphan-works-act-thieves-charter.html
• Advertising Photographers of America: http://www.apanational.com/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
• American Society of Media Photographers, Inc.: http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/orphan_update.php

This bill is regressive and pro big business - most artists are small business - we must stand up now to this legislation that will adversely effect our ability to make a living!

The international Copyright Law called the Berne Convention states that"no artist should be subjected to mandatory registration to allow for copyright protection"!

"Under the Berne Convention, copyrights for creative works do not have to be asserted or declared, as they are automatically in force at creation: an author need not "register" or "apply for" a copyright in countries adhering to the Berne Convention. As soon as a work is "fixed", that is, written or recorded on some physical medium, its author is automatically entitled to all copyrights in the work, and to any derivative works unless and until the author explicitly disclaims them, or until the copyright expires. The Berne Convention also resulted in foreign authors being treated equivalently to domestic authors, in any country signed onto the Convention. The UK signed the Berne Convention in 1887 but did not implement large parts of it until 100 years later with the passage of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. The USA did not sign the Berne Convention until 1989."

09/28/08 - Band Together STOP HR5889 Orphan Works Act - Congress has let us down!!

To all my Artist Friends,

Recent Development (fact checked see below):

Please read this Sunday 9/28/08 (today) post by Brad Holland of the Illustrators Partnership:

http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/09/orphan-works-devils-own-day.html

I trust this site and it sound like some nasty tomfoolery has allowed this bill to pass the US Senate. Yes, Gladys this is real.

PLEASE ACT NOW TO STOP THIS BILL IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!!!

Or else our livelihoods as visual artists will be greatly reduced (more overhead to register with private registries ($50 per registration) for a right we have now for FREE) and imperiled (no damages for COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT - no lawyer will ever take your case on commission)!!

OK here is DUE DILIGENCE - I have fact checked and it looks REAL! Links from govtrack.org a project to track congress"

Here is a link to the Senate bill (S2913) showing passage on 9/26/08: (Yes Sen McConnell (KY) has let us down AGAIN!!)
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-2913


Here is a link to the House bill (HR5889) which can still be stopped: (Will Rep. Chandler (KY) step up?)
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-5889

--
Jonathan Gilpin
Coordinator
Lexington KY Comic Creators Group
web: http://lexkyccg.blogspot.com
email: lexkyccg@gmail.com