Copyright Infringement & Orphan Works Act 2008

Copyright is one of the things that protects an artist's original work from being used without permission and compensation. It's always been a hot topic amongst consumers regarding music downloading, and it's no different for photographers and their original work.

The bill is called the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. Its intention is to allow anyone to use someone else's work if they can not be located or contacted, making the piece of work an 'orphan.' Even though the bill supposedly had started with good intentions, there are far too many loop holes at this time that will give some people the power to manipulate and take advantage of the doors this bill opens. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. The way the current bill is written, any original work who's copyright holder can't be located could be used without the artist's permission.

With all the hoopla surrounding the $700 billion bailout and the campaign news, this little bill was quietly passed by the Senate, even with strong opposition from the photography and visual arts community. Unfortunetly, due to its lack of publicity, not enough people knew about it.

Now the bill has been moved to the House of Representatives for final vote and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), along with other organizations is calling on members of the visual arts community to write to their representative.

CALL TO ACTION: You can easily write your Representative by clicking here. This will take you to a prewritten email that you can simply submit to your local representative right online.