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Before you all go crazy... (Orphan Works)
17 years ago
General
That proposal being put before the US gov't to grandfather in an orphan works law? Don't read that guy's article, he's full of propaganda. Instead, go read the thing itself:
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
Or, I'll just take the juiciest part out for you.
"c. Enthusiast User
As described, the enthusiast user is typically an individual who has expertise or
interest in a particular subject and wishes to make use of works, such as old journals,
books or articles, that relate to his area of interest. This use often involves making the
work available on the Internet for other enthusiasts or anyone in the public who is
interested in the subject matter. In most cases the use is not being made for commercial
purposes, but mostly for scholarly or hobbyist purposes.
This user will find himself in a similar position as the large-scale access user. He
must perform a reasonably diligent search for the owner, which will likely be part of the
user’s ongoing efforts to develop expertise in the field. In fact, in some cases the
enthusiast user might be in the best position to find the owner given the breadth of
knowledge and interest he has for the subject.
Once he has performed the search and been unable to find the owner, he can make
use of the work by, for example, posting it on the Internet for other enthusiasts. If the
owner surfaces and notifies the user of his copyright, the user can take the material down
to ensure that he has no monetary liability for the use (provided he has not made
commercial use of the work). As with the other uses, though, the owner may wish to
allow continued use of the work, given that many people who are interested in the subject
would likely visit the enthusiast’s site or otherwise become known to the owner."
See that? So anything you make, you still hold every kind of right on. If someone doesn't take it down after you ask, you're still entitled to every bit of legal recourse.
So chill, this law is really only for things that nobody claims and stuff that's no longer being renewed in the patent office.
Oh, and by the way? The commercial district is gonna have a cow about this, so it won't be passed.
It's okay, really.
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
Or, I'll just take the juiciest part out for you.
"c. Enthusiast User
As described, the enthusiast user is typically an individual who has expertise or
interest in a particular subject and wishes to make use of works, such as old journals,
books or articles, that relate to his area of interest. This use often involves making the
work available on the Internet for other enthusiasts or anyone in the public who is
interested in the subject matter. In most cases the use is not being made for commercial
purposes, but mostly for scholarly or hobbyist purposes.
This user will find himself in a similar position as the large-scale access user. He
must perform a reasonably diligent search for the owner, which will likely be part of the
user’s ongoing efforts to develop expertise in the field. In fact, in some cases the
enthusiast user might be in the best position to find the owner given the breadth of
knowledge and interest he has for the subject.
Once he has performed the search and been unable to find the owner, he can make
use of the work by, for example, posting it on the Internet for other enthusiasts. If the
owner surfaces and notifies the user of his copyright, the user can take the material down
to ensure that he has no monetary liability for the use (provided he has not made
commercial use of the work). As with the other uses, though, the owner may wish to
allow continued use of the work, given that many people who are interested in the subject
would likely visit the enthusiast’s site or otherwise become known to the owner."
See that? So anything you make, you still hold every kind of right on. If someone doesn't take it down after you ask, you're still entitled to every bit of legal recourse.
So chill, this law is really only for things that nobody claims and stuff that's no longer being renewed in the patent office.
Oh, and by the way? The commercial district is gonna have a cow about this, so it won't be passed.
It's okay, really.
However, a journalist wrote this scare tactic article: http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=**pageone&article_no=3605
In which he purports to say that this will enforce a kind of creative commons anarchy and anybody will be able to take anything. When in reality? All you have to do is step forward and say, "Actually, I did that. Take it down."
BO BOOOOO DO BA-DOOO
[/muppet]
I had already gotten a couple of hysterical message from people telling me to hide all my drawings under the bed and guard them with a shotgun.
The only good that's come out of this mass-hysteria is highlighting of the importance of watermarking and providing up-to-date contact information, which all artists SHOULD be doing anyway. It's not as if art theft is SUDDENLY going to happen because of this bill (which is very likely to be shot down again anyway); we all know it's rampant on the internetz right now /:
It's like, really old news, isn't it?
I do believe humans being are chaotic by nature and prefer discord over understanding (which would understand our like for drama)
If only I had checked FA today before sendign them out. Sigh.
I'm not sure if I want it to go through or not though. I know so very little about this stuff. Guess I should go read the link then.
It could bring about both good or bad, because you could find loopholes in it, but not as easily as some would say, probably. At the same time it would probably not be as safe as some others would say... The above use would be great, but wouldn't that already covered by fair use or something?
If I recall things right, though, at least the people behind the proposal wanted the user to be able to make some money off it and still not get caught for that. (but consider donation pages - if you get donations for keeping a site alive, does that count as profit? in that case, you'd get problems without a bill like this. I'm kind of split in two and need more knowledge of law than I have...)
I didn't exactly have a cow but maybe I had a little calf. ;) (I'm not sure at all if or not there's reason to worry, I mainly just don't have the time to worry right now :P)
After talking with Dad I'm kind of thinking more about who should be dubbed creator of things like traditional songs... And how to see if something is for the good of the public (or at least part of it) even if someone seemingly makes a bit of money doing it.