While the Senate unanimously passed the Orphan Works bill on September 26, the bill has failed to find enough support to pass in the House ... yet.
The Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act of 2008 is an attempt to change the basic tenets of copyright law - that is, if it's not yours, you can't use it without permission. Under this act, anyone can use your copyrighted works freely as long as they've made a "diligent" effort to contact you without success. Unfortunately, the legislation doesn't define what it means by diligent. Some have suggested that you would have to have your works listed in a national registry (for which you would presumably pay a fee). If your works don't appear in that registry, they can be considered orphaned. Imagine an artist having to register every sketch, photo and/or cartoon they've ever done. In addition, the legislation places limits on the amount of compensation the copyright holder can collect if their copyright is infringed. Basically, it allows the infringer to decide what your copyrighted works are worth.
If you think this doesn't affect you, think again ... what about those family photos you posted on your personal website? Unless you stamp each one with your contact information, anyone could use those photos by simply saying they were unable to find you after a "reasonable" attempt.
If you want to let your elected officials know how you feel about this insane piece of legislation, there's a web site with direct links and templates to communicate with your representatives:
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