Tell Congress NO on the Orphan Works legislation!!!

Sign the Petition : 53 Letters and Emails Sent So Far

Dear Senators,Representatives,Governors and State Legislators,

Re: The Orphan Works Act of 2008, also known as the “S 2913 Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008"

As a long time professional artist. I wanted to write you with my concerns about S 2913 Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008. After reading about the Orphan Works bill, I am shocked and very concerned how this will effect my livelihood if this bill is passed.

This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact my income and life as an artist. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries.

I am an artist of over 37 years and work very hard to support my work. There are so many ethical wrongs with this bill, but I want to talk about one in particular. I depend on the internet to promote my work as so many other artisans do as a viable marketing tool. I feel without this avenue of resource to contact and share my work under the current copyright act for the purpose of marketing sales. I fear that if the Orphan Works Bill were to pass I would be no longer able to protect my work by useing it as a resourceful marketing tool that helps me make a living. At this time the internet already has a growing problem in insuring artist's rights of protection under the copyright act. In the last 18 years I have been on the internet marketing my work via-internet, I have seen a ever growing problem for art theft. I feel that if this bill, where allowed to past, it will only create a even bigger problem with the possibility of uncontrollable unethical thievery of artist works. I think this bill will not protect us artisans and I feel this bill was not created with us artisans in mind! I feel it will only fuel a already growing art theft problem on the internet for all professional artisans!!!

Please I strongly urge you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill on my behave and many other hard working artisans. I ask you to say NO to the Orphan Works Bill to protect my/our rights, my/our copyrights, to all that I and my fellow artisans have and will create for the enjoyment of future generations.

I would greatly appreciate a written response.

Thank you for your consideration of my views.

Sincerely,

Kassity Allison
Salem Oregon		Tell Congress NO on the Orphan Works legislation!!!

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People signing the "Tell Congress NO on the Orphan Works legislation!!!" petition!

  1. Mon., May. 5, 2008 12:02 PM    link Kevin B. | Troy, OH

    I do NOT support this bill! The Orphan Works Bill serves only to further allow unscrupulous people to be allowed to do even more unscrupulous things without fear of reprisal. This country should lead the world in respecting the rights of the intellectual and creative ownership of ALL artists rather than further marginalizing and victimizing a group that is already on the bottom of the list of people being justly compensated for the works produced therefrom.


    The people pushing this bill know that it is wrong and illegal- that is why they seek to make what is simply theft to be a legal act for them; they want what we- the artists- have, but do not want to have to give just compensation, remuneration, or even proper acknowledgement for said intellectual and creative properties. It treats artists as second class citizens and says by it's nature and intent that we- artists- are just one more resource to be exploited without remorse, respect or regard. These corporate entities that seek to have this bill passed aren't even willing to do the proper work to discover who the creator of the work in question is, but rather seek through this bill to dump the burden of responsibility onto that of the creators- which should be to congress a clear and undeniable red flag as to the moral and legally questionable nature of this bill. We were all of us in this society taught as children that to claim or use work done by another person and thus attempt to profit from said work is WRONG! Why is it being contemplated as being perhaps okay now and in these circumstances and for corporations? It is an understood and proper thing is civilized society that to profit from the work of another without having gained PERMISSION and given just compensation and CREDIT is stealing. Furthermore, to place the weight of responsibility of proof of ownership of said images is splitting hairs intellectually and morally- if there is doubt then it should be the responsibility of the entity wishing to USE that image FOR THEIR OWN PROFIT to seek out who the creator of that image is and then seek the proper channels to gain permission and thus be forced by LAW to abide by the answer given from the creative source and OWNER of that image! As artists many of us have no choice but to avail ourselves of the Internet to get our work out to a BUYING public, we do not do this to satisfy our egos nor to allow any and all to simply steal images of OUR work as they will! Putting our work on the Internet is no different than the controversy that followed musicians having their music downloaded for free and without having given their permission- the only difference for artists such as I is that we don't have the power of big executives like the recording industry to fight for us- indeed, it seems that it is a like entity that we lowly artists are fighting against!

    As an artist in this country I can tell you that I do NOT make large sums of money doing what I do- and passing this ridiculous bill will serve only to further exploit a group that is not making money hand over fist but rather will allow a group who already counts large profit margins among their many boons to further their Robber Barron ways without fear of reprisal- you will say once again that such people are above and beyond the laws of our country and even the moral righteousness of what used to be a just civilized society. This bill is making what is clearly illegal legal- VOTE NO on this! Stop the cycle this government has fallen into whereby the rights and voices of people and issues are measured as worthy of consideration by how much money has been dumped into the lobbying.

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  3. Sun., May. 4, 2008 10:05 PM    link Elsie R. | Pioneer, CA

    I strongly agree. Please do not make it harder for an all ready starving profession. I own the website Http://ooakdollart.com I have approximately 7000 visitors a month. Most of the vistitors are One of A Kind art creators. I continuely see them selling there works on ebay and getting such low prices for the tons of hours they have devoted to their works. It breaks my heart to think that you would support yet another bill that would so poorly effect artisans. The world is a better place do the commitment of articians. Please vote no to the Orphan Workss Bill to protect all of my artists as well as all of the articians copyrights.

    Submitted with great respect,
    Elsie L. Roach
    Proud owner of Http://ooakdollart.com

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  5. Sun., May. 4, 2008 12:46 PM    link Rebecca M. | Vancouver, WA

    Dear Senators,Representatives,Governors and State Legislators:

    Re: The Orphan Works Act of 2008, also known as the “S 2913 Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008"

    I was writing in regards to The Orphan Works Act of 2008. As an artist, I feel that this act could directly effect my life in a negative manner. All this act seems to do is allow people to more easily steal others artwork. Please vote "No" to this act. It seems that this was written up without any consideration towards artists of any kind.

    Most starting artists can't afford the time or money to license their works. Even artists who are already well established may have trouble with this. The internet is an easy and cheap way for artists to show their work. If this bill were passed, it would easily allow others to just take our work.

    Would you like a bill passed that directly took money out of your pocket? Neither would we.

    Please vote "No" to The Orphan Works Act of 2008.

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  7. Sun., May. 4, 2008 12:45 PM    link Rebecca M. | Vancouver, WA

    Dear Senators,Representatives,Governors and State Legislators:

    Re: The Orphan Works Act of 2008, also known as the “S 2913 Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008"

    I was writing in regards to The Orphan Works Act of 2008. As an artist, I feel that this act could directly effect my life in a negative manner. All this act seems to do is allow people to more easily steal others artwork. Please vote "No" to this act. It seems that this was written up without any consideration towards artists of any kind.

    Most starting artists can't afford the time or money to license their works. Even artists who are already well established may have trouble with this. The internet is an easy and cheap way for artists to show their work. If this bill were passed, it would easily allow others to just take our work.

    Would you like a bill passed that directly took money out of your pocket? Neither would we.

    Please vote "No" to The Orphan Works Act of 2008.

  8. This comment has been reported to the site manager, thank you.

  9. Sat., May. 3, 2008 11:51 AM    link cathie joy y. | portland, OR

    Hello,

    With all the troubles in the world today this may look like a rather small one but it has the possibility of having a disasterous effect on all those who create imagery and make a living at it. As an image maker myself I stand to lose a lot if this bill passes. What is the point of this bill? Who stands to benefit? Some very greedy, lazy people must be behind this. Please protect the rights of hard working artists. The internet has opened up a wonderful world of networking and commercial possibilities for art makers. Please do not make us the victims of copyright theft.

    sincerely,
    cathie joy young
    www.cathiejoyyoung.com

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