10 replies to this topic

[Meggiemaccat]

Someone interviews Brad Holland about it...

Wikipedia Entry on Orphan Works

Okay, now for the sake of those who don't want to click links, here's the gist of it: all art, all photographs, all sketches, WILL LOSE ALL COPYRIGHT PROTECTION (at least in the U.S.) BY THIS SUMMER IF CONGRESS PASSES THIS LEGISLATION. And if you've already registered it YOU MUST REGISTER IT AGAIN WHEN THE BILL PASSES OR IT WILL ALSO LOSE COPYRIGHT PROTECTION.

Please check the links before you panic from my words; I might not be completely accurate on some things (like the 'by this summer' thing, and possibly having to re register things), but this is serious.

Sign the deviantART petition against it.

deviantART news bullitein that explains it better.

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

I've signed multiple petitions against this.... I CAN'T BELIVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nemoide]

Copyright laws are a messy situation and I have no idea how they could be fixed. But I shall say that a rich public domain is something tragically missing from the United States. There is too much protection for copyrights and it really angers me that things like Mickey Mouse will pretty much NEVER become public domain despite the fact that the creator has been dead for decades.

I am all for protecting artist works for people who are still alive but I do not think copyright/trademark should be inherited. But also look at great creative things that use elements of other artistic creations (ie sampling in music). The artist may not even care but the company will blow the new work away with a legal explosion since the record company claims to own the music rather than the individuals that make it.

BASICALLY more things must be public domain. Or at VERY LEAST creative commons? Yet this solution does not sound like a helpful one. I hope no individuals are hurt too much by it? Seriously things are a legal mess and something quite radical that I cannot conceive of must be done.

[Nightingale]

Um. o.o Maybe I glossed over the wiki entry too fast, but I think the "it's up for grabs" thing only applies if they can't contact the original artist? So as long as you sign/watermark your art or something similar (i.e. for music) then I don't think it's a huge problem... though I may be wrong.

[Meggiemaccat]

Mleh, yeah; on another forum there was discussion that made me realize it wasn't the end of the world for artists. XPPPP But still, I can see a lot of bad stuff happening as a result of this.

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

Yeah, for me, it is. My book world, the characters I created, their names, physical apperance, etc...... ARE ALL IN GRAVE DANGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TRiPPY]

No they're not. If you publish your work it's automaticaly proof of copyright unless your work is a copy of anothers. You can't copyright an idea, only a solid work that expresses that idea. Copyrighting an 'idea' would be a patent for a design or an invention.

This law isn't as big a deal as people are making it out to be. Like nemoide said, it would actualy do good things too.

[animejosse]

Besides, there's been some misunderstandings about the whole thing. There's info here, here and here.

[TRiPPY]

Common sense prevails <3

[TORiAS_the_fallen]

Yeah, um, I did my own research, and this isn't that horrible after all, at least, not for me.
*sigh of relief*
I'm glad, Unumato lives!

[Icachan]

I'll be closing this then. There is no reason to hop on the panic wagon people, this is far from a disaster.