time for action on the Orphan Works bill

Visit this website for an easy and fast way to make a statement about the new proposed "orphan works" legislation to your members of congress.

I have read the bill myself and made sure that I've taken a thorough look at both sides of the issue, because as someone who appreciates the cause of librarians, documentarians, and education; as a musician and someone who benefits from some of the free and open exchange of creativity on the web and as someone who benefits greatly from new technology, I want to be sure that I'm not contributing to an overly clamped-down copyright minefield for people who have legitimate need for using truly orphaned works.

As an illustrator though, I make my living from licensing the usage rights to my artwork - and after reading the new legislation, it's obvious to me that there is no specific language that does nearly enough to protect visual works that are created specifically for commercial purposes. And there are far more burdens placed on individual artists to register and police their work than ever before.

Walk in to any bookstore, retail outlet, home furnishings store, fabric store, open a magazine, you will encounter hundreds even thousands of works of art and photography every day that enhance the commercial value of products for sale. There must be a way to maintain the commercial value of these works for the individuals who created them (who are making a living at it) and still allow for researchers and those who make documentaries to do their work too. The language as it exists now is far too broad and it doesn't serve commercial artists and photographers at all. Please take a look at the website I mentioned above; in 3 minutes you can send a letter to your representatives and get back to work.