Board index Photography Artistic Questions Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Artistic Questions

Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

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marxz
 
Posts: 282

Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Sun Apr 13, 2008 4:21 am


http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html

Basically if this goes through it looks like if you don't pay to formally claim copyright on your images they can be declared "Orphaned" and claimed and used by anyone wanting to use your creative works for profit.

I hope this is getting more attention than it seems to be..... to me it looks like the "Big End of Town" companies are trying to cash in on the "User Generated Content" of the "Web 2" movement.

to be honest, while I'm not a commercial or professional photographer if this sort of law gets passed I'll be pulling all my images off of pBase and Flickr
there is no .sig

madlights
 
Posts: 914

Re: Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:07 am


Wow...thanks. I'm interested in photography as mostly an addictive hobby but also am a painter and sell a few commercially as such. I wasn't aware of this law coming through... although I've sold few photos..would pull every image I have off the net, and as I say photos are more or less a hobby. The other visual endeavor (painting) I've sort of dedicated my life to...and although I don't have quite the fire in me that I did when I was young...I do believe I would take some form of action, being it literally fighting in the streets...rather than be robbed by whoever is instigating this law...better we take some form of lesser action now to stop the passage of this travesty. This is terrible if it were to pass. Thanks for alerting us here on PBase.

dang
 
Posts: 3780

Re: Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:36 am


Currently, we're still under law which protects images under copyright when taken. The most logical reason people aren't speaking up is because they're not aware of the "Orphan Law" which could be passed. I'd heard the term some time ago, but thought the law was defeated. There's also a good article which can be read here: http://www.llrx.com/features/orphanworks.htm
Thanks for bringing it up. This could have huge impact on every artist, photographer and site on the net!

marxz
 
Posts: 282

Re: Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:28 am


Sorry this May be old... may have been struck down/failed to pass some time ago but the topic has zombied in to something still doing the rounds and can't die as it gets posted from forum to forum... in that case I appologize for passing it on without additional research. I honestly do hope it was quashed or (even better) it reverted back to, and passed in to law, in its beneficial, original, intended form.

here's another, more ... um... professional? less histrionic ... blog article...
as this writer says, it seems to have started with all good intent but spun out to some out of control IP grab
http://orphanworks.blogspot.com/2006/03/next-generation-stock-orphans-for.html
but it still makes it sound like it's a real bad deal.

given the out and out hostile and bordering on illegal and vexatious actions of the Film and Audio industries' copyright protection agents it really come of, at best, as bad PR and the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, and at worst it looks like they want to play the field from both sides while squashing individuals who "dare" try assert their rights (moral or legal).

EDIT: OK doing some research - it's back - it got killed off but has risen from the dead to have another shot at passing through the US law making system... there is some good news though in that individual artists and "image makers" seem to have been represented this time:
http://orphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/03/orphan-works-is-back.html

of course I'm unaware of the situation pass/fail in other areas, at least this law hasn't (as yet) arisen in my country (though the US law, if poorly implemented, would gravely affect a large amount of even hobbyists like me in other countries who could potentially find their works are claimed for commercial use in what might be their biggest market if they decided to "turn pro")
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t_boogie
 
Posts: 11

Re: Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:11 pm


I think as long as you are going to post photos on the web people are going to be able to take screen captures, or download the image anyway. Naturally keeping the image small and post-able (is that a word?) prevents people from making hi-res posters or prints from them, but hey, they are out there. As a painter and photographer I wonder with each photo I post who might be using it for what, especially if it's the "hobby posting" I do here on PBase.

I guess the bottom line is never release for free what you plan to sell.
Eddie :|
(T.Boogie)
http://www.pbase.com/t_boogie

thegallopingflasher
 
Posts: 11

Re: Orphan pictures laws - register your copyright or lose it?

Post Wed Aug 20, 2008 7:34 am


From what I understand of the legal issues regarding orphaned works is registering your work is really your only recourse. There are still many myths about copyright laws...while it is true that your photos are considered copyrighted the instant you take them you still need to register the photos before any court will recognize them as being copyrighted. There is a 90 day grace period from when an infringement occurs to the time a photograher has to be able to produce a registration of the photo in order for legal procedings to be looked at in the photographer's favor. Also laws concerning what can be photographed without someone's consent vary from state to state so you may want to check the local laws to ensure you haven't infringe on someone else's territory before you take someone to court


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