HELP SAVE ART AND THE ARTIST!!!!!!!

EVERY ARTIST NEEDS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE! and this goes for you folks who APPRECIATE the art and the artist who makes it as well!!!!!!!


Protect the copyright of your current and future work and oppose the Orphan Works Act.



http://www.capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/bills/?bill=11320236

Excerpts:

"The Orphan Works Act defines an "orphan work" as any copyrighted work whose author any infringer says he is unable to locate with what the infringer himself decides has been a "reasonably diligent search." In a radical departure from existing copyright law and business practice, the U.S. Copyright Office has proposed that Congress grant such infringers freedom to ignore the rights of the author and use the work for any purpose, including commercial usage. In the case of visual art, the word "author" means "artist.

" "

"Almost all visual artists such as painters, illustrators and photographers are self employed. .... The cost and time-consumption to individual artists of registering tens of thousands of visual works, at even a low fee, would be prohibitive; therefore countless working artists would find countless existing works orphaned from the moment they create them.

"

In other words, if you can't ultimately pay to register your work, you may be legally subject to copyright infringement and would have little to no legal recourse.



Go here to send a letter to your local representative. I did this just a moment ago and it took no time at all, and I'm not even all that in jeopardy here, I just love my artist friends.

So if you are an artist, get to it!

http://www.capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/bills/?bill=11320236