Orphan Works Outrage!

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Our beloved representatives in Washington have in front of them a rancid piece of legislation that could shake the Creative world to the core. All us us who create images must educate ourselves to the law as it pertains to our business and our livelihood.
Brad Holland and the Illustrators Partnership have struggled mightily over the last few years to safeguard our creative work, but Congress is about to yank the rug out from under us all unless we quickly come together and demand our rights as the rightful owners of our own creations.
This article sums up what's going on, so please take the time to read it and call or write your congressional representatives and let them know how bad this legislation is.

Go here to download sample letters to congress, bullet point letters, and a list of lawmakers to e-mail them to. The more proactive we all are in this, the more likely we are to be heard. Our futures as artists and illustrators depends on it.

4 comments:

Jay Montgomery said...

If you are a resident of GA here are direct links to the email web forms for Senators:

Saxby Chambliss
http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm&CFID=51392169&CFTOKEN=14703251

and

Johnny Isakson.
http://isakson.senate.gov/contact.cfm

If you are a resident of another state find your senators contact page here:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Use the sample letters linked from this post to the IPA. Do it now while you are here. It will only take 5 min.

Thanks,
Jay

Terp Vairin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Terp Vairin said...

I believe this is a better article in terms of this subject, it is actually written by Brad Holland and comes off as much less hysterical.

http://www.lostpencil.com/wordpress/?p=225

I have gotten a lot of mail from people who have only seen the article linked here and the "6 Misconceptions about Orphan Works" that has been circulating, and due to the hysterical tone and the calmer tone of the "6 myths" article many believe that this bill is "no big deal" and people are "freaking out for no reason." I am doing my best to educate them otherwise, however I believe it would be best to send people to Mr. Holland's article instead.

Rick said...

Terp,

Thanks for the heads-up. I revised the link to take you to the Brad Holland interview instead.