More Groups Condemn Controversial Orphan Works Bills

The California Copyright Conference and the Association of Independent Music Publishers have announced a joint position paper condemning the Orphan Works bills. In a five page paper they conclude: “The Orphan Works bills are deeply flawed and would have serious unintended but far reaching adverse effects.”

“The final report is the result of a collaborative effort from a panel of distinguished experts who bring together differing viewpoints on copyright matters,” says Cheryl Hodgson, current President of the California Copyright Conference (CCC). “The unanimity of the voice with which they have chosen to speak underscores the reason all copyright owners should read and understand the issues.”

These bills “threaten to erode fundamental protections for copyright authors and owners,” the paper begins. The bills will “encourage copyright infringement and objectionable uses across the full spectrum of protected artistic works”:

In the process of “helping” appropriate other people's personal property, the legislation promotes the incremental dismantling of one of our nation's primary economic growth engines. The Internet, computer and consumer electronics industries utilize vast amounts of copyrighted works to attract customers to their websites, from which they derive enormous profits from advertising and subscription fees, These industries have long sought to eliminate copyright protections and to avoid paying for the content they use to lure consumers.

“The Orphan Works bill has the potential to erode the protection that copyright owners have fought for over many years,” says attorney Steve Winogradsky, past President of both the California Copyright Conference and the Association of Independent Music Publishers (AIMP). “It puts the burden on the copyright owner to find the offending parties and either negotiate with them without the remedies currently available to bring about reasonable compensation or bring costly litigation. In short, for copyright owners, the Orphan Works bill is a disaster.”

View Report http://www.brandaideblog.com/pdf/Position_Statement.pdf

More than 60 groups representing illustrators, photographers, musicians and writers now openly oppose this controversial revision of US copyright law. Over 112,000 letters have been sent to lawmakers from the Illustrators Partnership advocacy site.

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