What are orphan images and should we concerned about the new legislation?

[xseption]

I just read this:

Orphan Works Revisited

Forwarded from THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP:

It appears that Orphan Works legislation will soon rear its head again. The word from Washington is that it will again be fast-tracked and its sponsors will resist "any significant modifications to the existing draft."

Last year, visual arts groups came together as an informal coalition. We shared information and coordinated a letter writing campaign. Monday, Jan. 29 these groups are scheduled to meet in Washington to discuss a unified strategy. The groups (listed below) will formally be called The Imagery Alliance.

Each member organization has been asked to make a voluntary contribution to the Alliance. But since some groups are forbidden by their tax-exempt status to engage in lobbying, the Alliance must first determine the best way to collect and distribute money. In some cases, it may be necessary for groups to simply educate their members by directing those who wish to contribute to a tax-appropriate orphan works fund. We'll update you when this has been determined. We believe that any money raised in this cause should be used specifically to improve Orphan Works legislation and not consumed in maintenance, administration or for other organizational expenses.

The Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
The Imagery Alliance:
Advertising Photographers of America (APA)
American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA)
American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP)
American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP)
Association of Photographers (AOP) (UK)
Art Directors Club (ADC)
British Association of Picture Libraries & Agencies (BAPLA)
Coordination of European Agencies Press Stock Heritage (CEPIC)
Editorial Photographers (EP)
Graphic Artists Guild (GAG)
Illustrators' Partnership of America (IPA)
North American Nature Photography Assoc. (NANPA)
National Press Photographers Assoc (NPPA)
Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)
Picture Licensing Universal System (PLUS)
Professional Photographers of America (PPA)
Society for Photographic Education (SPE)
Stock Artists Alliance (SAA)
White House News Photographers Assoc. (WHNPA)

Found it here: http://www.photoattorney.com/

[lscottpht]

Ooh, I will have to get ph0t0g in on this thread. He knows all about it and just attended one of the meetings with the new president of NPPA. Ph0t0g used to be pres. of NPPA. He can explain this to you and yes, it is a concern.

[xseption]

Originally Posted by lscottpht

Ooh, I will have to get ph0t0g in on this thread. He knows all about it and just attended one of the meetings with the new president of NPPA. Ph0t0g used to be pres. of NPPA. He can explain this to you and yes, it is a concern.

Please! Any insight would shore be helpful ... how big of a concern?

[lscottpht]

I'm not entirely sure, but I know he seemed very concerned about this. I don't remember all the specifics, and he is at work right now at the tv station. So, he probably can't respond until tonight. I should be talking to him at some point again during the day, and I will try and summarize for you.

[Bartman01]

Here is some info from when this first raised it's head:
http://www.asmp.org/news/spec2006/orphan_faxcall.php

Their last update was that it died in committee, but it sounds like it is back.

Per the info, an 'orphaned work' is one for whom the user has made a 'good faith' effort to contact the copyright holder and failed. When they can't find or contact the owner then they get to use the work for pretty much free.

[lscottpht]

Ok, just spoke to Todd, aka ph0t0g and he said, yes, we should all be very concerned. He couldnt talk long to tell me the gist of it, but unfortunately its going to end up passing and the groups against this can't get together enough to form anything unified. However, the meeting that he attended was the one to form this alliance. So, we will see. He said he will post something tonight about it.

[Bartman01]

I find it interesting that at the same time congress is passing laws trying very hard to completely clamp down on theft of music and movies they are also passing laws to make it trivial to steal photographs and images. Really shows the power of lobbying. If you are concerned about this the only real solution is for the imaging community and their professional bodies to heavily lobby congress. The MPAA and RIAA don't get their laws passed through letter writing campaigns.

Basically if the law passes I see this as a very good possibility:
Joe Advertiser wants to use Jane Photographer's images. He downloads them from her web site, edits out any (C) notices and saves them with EXIF data stripped out, and then uses them for 'free'. If he gets caught he can just claim that he can't remember where he got the images but they came with no (c) notices and had no way of knowing who to contact. Unless this can be proven to be false his only penalty is to just pay a fair value for their use. There would be a strong incentive to steal content since there is no penalty for doing so beyond paying 'normal' fees for their use.

[CobyPhoto]

I am interested in this too. Been following it through PPA and other. Bottom line is, if you make your living through photography, this hurts you! Not to say that it doesn't hurt others as well, but it really hits photographers that do only photography for a living, hard.

CJ

[PhotoByMark]

Unbelievable. What would be the argument for passing such a ridiculous law?