This has been gone over. When they say orphaned works, they mean works where the original creator can't be found or contacted. Also, this bill probably won't be passed, considering they won't pass a bill to illegalize artistic representations of children participating in sexual acts

Well...shit. I'm glad that there's nothing really to worry about then :D Thanks!

8D No problem

Hahaha

People have been talking about this for a while, and from what I've heard, it's a fluke. They've tried to pass the bill like 3 times already or something and it never got through. I'm pretty sure the big scare was mostly hype.

omg yay. I was so worried <:O and angered >:C Me and Megan were like, screaming about this because we were so angry XD

Online petitions don't accomplish anything, and the story we've been hearing about orphan works is a hoax.

Thats good to hear <:'D

Why don't online petitions work?

This little article should explain why: http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/petit.....n/internet.asp

all my rage went no were important <:''C

Sounds terrible but the other responses make it sound like it's not a real issue... A quick Google search hasn't really dug up anything alrming either (minus som fear mongering). I don't think it's anything super serious.

Haha yeah, my scare factor has gone down a couple of degrees from reading the comments. AI dunno, I mainly heard it from friends at school, and when I looked it up, it had the petition there, so I freaked out <:D

I panic over personal rights and stuff too. If they did do something really bad, like changing copyrights so you had to purchase them to get them I'd be shitting bricks 8|

Oh...

I did.

It's okay, more people should care about freedom, rights, etc. =p

you're late :[

I'm late 4 teh party <:''C

It's all good, baby.

Like people have said, this is a fluke, don't worry about it.

Has anybody actually looked into this more closely? I have for the last couple YEARS not weeks. This has also been known as the Public Domain Enrichment Act and basically it's to help count the Micky Mouse Copyright Extention Act forced through Congress by Di$ney and a washed up singer that was once married to Cher. Anyway, thanks to them NOTHING will lapse into the public domain until 2070, so basically given lifetime statistics for men, I WILL PROBABLY BE DEAD BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE COMES INTO THE PUBLIC DOMAIN!

All this bill tries to do is enable a way for stuff to naturally lapse into the Public Domain without it being explicitly stated by the creator. There are thousands of old films, recording and books that are literally rotting (as in decomposing) in vaults because current copyright law won't allow them to be converted into more modern medias. If nothing is done soon they will be lost forever to history. Many of these works have no known copyright holder to be contacted to approve of the conversion. This bill would allow for a system to let these works lapse into the public domain and be saved, rather than being lost.

All the people saying it's "legalizing art theft" are morons who don't understand the intention of this bill. The intention of the bill is to allow more works to enter the public domain, that is to no longer have any copyrights at all. This would not mean that just because an artist can't be found online their work, created well after 1976, will be stolen. It (currently) means works made in the 1920s and 30s that would have lapsed into the public domain if not for corporate greed of that Micky Mouse company AND that the current copyright holder is entirely unknown will become freely available and usable.

I find it ironic that some of the greatest literary works in history were created during an era where stealing a story from someone else was not just common, but encouraged be the likes of royalty.

Also, since 1976 EVERYTHING is assumed to have a copyright. You don't have to register it, hell nor even explicitly state it in the work, it's assumed by law.

Thank you very much for that information, its just that when I heard about it and later looked it up and saw the petition, and me being kinda gullible, I thought it was all true.

So like, if some guy came across a film or something made before 1976, he would be able to re-make it and call it his own with out giving credit to an unknown, or at least stating that it was based off of something else? And in the future, if this bill does get passed, and stuff goes into the public domain, will the assumption that everything is automatically copyrighted go away? Will we have to buy copyrights?

And us people who say that it's "legalizing art theft" are not morons, we are just ill informed because we mainly hear one-sided views and exaggerations and instantly believe it because thats all we hear. And when it comes to something personal like this, it's kinda hard not to over react. I don't think that most people who hear about this will go and study a few years before speaking about it. It's much easier to assume something than to look it up, sadly.

But, again, thank you for replying and giving me another view and a lot of information about it. The whole reason for this journal was to get comments about it with people's thoughts and to see if it really was true, and if it was, I wanted to help stop it.

In regards to your second paragraph, the best example of public domain I can give is Alice in Wonderland. Disney didn't HAVE to credit Lewis Caroll because Alice is public domain, therefore they were able to keep all the money and not pay royalties. Disney doesn't make films they can't keep all the money from XD

another good example is the majority of classical music. You hear Beethoven's fifth in stuff ALL THE TIME because it's free for movie producers to use.

But you can still register a copyright on stuff made before 1976 if you were the original creator - for example, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead was 1968, but he owns the copyright.

If you read the links in my journal, they'll explain away your worries about losing your copyrights n.n

Oh wow, thank you very much, Night of the Living Dead is my favorite zombie movie. I'll go look at your journal, though. And I apologize if I seem like one of those people who freak out over everything, which, I dunno, I guess I kinda am :B

Thanks again! :D

It's ok, I freaked out at first too, I was actually crying D: *ashamed*

Please check my journal, or read what ciaran said, and in the future you might want to do a bit more research before panicking over one poorly worded article :)

I'll keep that in mind baby, thanks :D

Woops, got confused about which response was to me x3 sorry about that

Apparently this will never pass
but wtf
nobody steal my Sigmund, he's my bebe