From what I've heard it's a hoax and will not go through but you never know D:

i wouldnt put it past the american government to let big corperations fuck over the little guy this way though... its sort of become the american way.

Orphan works only plays to work IN WHICH THE ARTIST CAN NOT BE LOCATED. If they use your work without trying to locate the original artist, they can be fined extensively from what I heard on the bill. Alot of people are gettin really uptight about it without even actually reading it or looking at it

but what they are saying is that they will make a new law saying that if you don't register your work with these private companies' registries (and pay them for it) that anyone who DOESN'T find your work in the registry can than legally call it orphaned work.
at least thats the idea i get.

I don't think that they have their facts straight. The person who wrote the original article that got everyone's attention originally had his facts completely wrong and stirred up a widespread panic.

The Orphaned works bill has also been rejected before, so it's doubtful whether it'll get passed.

i hope you are right. ive actually had my work used without my permission before. never for money, but it could happen. it happened to arphalia.

Yeah, it also happened to Dustmeat. Dustmeat had a drawing that was put on clothing and sold by a large store.

thats exactly what happened to arphie. i was appalled. i would just hate to see my work make mad money that isnt mine when i havent made more than probably $500 TOTAL through commissions over the years.

Yeah, it's horrible.

I'm surprised you haven't made that much. I've had around $1000 in the past year, and you have better art than I do.

aw, thats sweet of you to say. im mostly just not self disciplined enough to make money off my work. oh yeah and right NOW im blocked as all hell and he\\ave hardly any motivation to draw at all.

Awwr, I'm sorry about that D:

ya and when you look at this alot of people seem to overly trust the government and or corporations. cause they can say they looked for the artist and honestly not actually look that hard. I've actually heard that the law is already in congress...http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2008/o.....han_update.php

I've heard that the US is a signee on an international act that protects peoples' art from being stolen by big companies like that. I've also heard what Asphyxiation said, that it's if the artist cannot be contacted. Still, there's writing to congressmen to tell them to vote no on the bill.

Hoax or not, I hope it fails entirely. You can bet the whole world will explode if this law is passed.

I read about this and came to the conclusion that it wasn't likely to be an issue.

I uh, don't remember what lead me to that though >_>