http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/D ... uery.html| Orphan Works Act of 2008 In a nutshell, it allows for some one to infringe upon a visual copyright (e.g. pictures) so long as they conduct a "reasonably diligent" search for the owner. Of course that can mean posting of a legal notice in the local small town paper. Copyright holders would be encouraged (forced) to register their copyrights digitally with the Register of Copyrights in order to protect their copyright (and basically their rights) so that someone can search the database before infringing on the copyright. Scary because it basically voids the general premise that you have a copyright as soon as you take a picture, but now your rights basically won't be protected unless you register (at your expense!) the image(s) with the government. I like the review of the bill they have here: http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnersh ... d=11320236 Sheesh.
I guess its time to start writing our congressmen... Just another case of them trying to fix a system that's not broken. The only way that system would work is if they allow everyone to register their works for free, which they can't do because it would be to expensive.
Apparently, under the current rules, no one can use an orphaned work because you aren't allowed to use something without the permission of the owner. There was a study by the U.S. Copyright Office that presented the problem of the orphaned work, and this legislation along with its counterpart in the Senate; S. 2913, The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008, are supposed to fix that. From what I've read, this is actually the second attempt at passing a bill like this. A couple of years ago, a similar bill was shot down after lobbyists for the visual arts communities put enough pressure on Congress to stop the bill because it was unfair to artists. The problem I have with the bill is that it places the burden of letting everyone know that you are the copyright holder on you, the artist, and if you catch whomever is stealing your work, the bill limits the legal damages to whatever you would have been paid for it had they contacted you before publishing it. That will encourage people to steal our photos, because they're not that likely to get caught, and when they do, its just a slap on the wrist.
