ATTENTION: All artists and photographers. This is concerning the U.S. Orphan Works Act of 2008, which is to be passed by the end of this weekend. This bill would allow anyone to infringe on another's work without consultation or compensation without any infringement penalty. It would basically let anyone or a corporation steal your work and claim ownership by going into court and saying that they could not find you, in which the court could deem the work as "orphan work" and the infringer would not have to pay a penalty for copyright infringement. This is not only for "authors" as is stated in the bill, if the work is artwork then it would be "artist". Under current copyright laws, even artist who are not registered with the copyright office are extended a basic copyright for their work. I urge every artist, author, photographer, or whatever creative outlet you have to go to the folowing link and contact your representatives and senators and urge them not to pass this bill. The House has one version and the Senate has another version entitled The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008 Bill # S.2913. It is time for the artistic community to stand up and say NO to our government, and keep our artistic rights.
Go to [link]