For those Sharing Photos

Don't think for a moment that the Shawn Bentley Orphaned Works Act will leave you unscathed. If you share your family photos and video online as so many of us do, the wording in this bill will send chills down your spine!

As it stands, an 'Orphaned Work' is defined not in terms of historical significance, but instead as any work that doesn't have the creator's information clearly attached and who's owner can not be found by searching the Copyright office. Any photo meeting these two guidelines can be deemed 'Orphaned' by this bill and can be used by any non-profit in any public awareness campaign without fear of legal ramifications. Current privacy laws only provide protection from the unauthorized 'advertising, commercial or trade' use of your image or likeness. The Orphan Works Act specifically allows for the non-commercial, so called non-profit use.

How many parents ever register the photos and videos they share online with the Copyright Office?

But Senator Leahy's aide believes personal photos and videos will be safe simply because the website will identify the proper owner.

Apparently no one in Senator Leahy's office has ever heard of image scraping software (does anyone remember the original Google image search?) and it's ability to quickly separate vast quantities of images from their sites!

Imagine how many family photos can be scraped from the web in a single day!

Well never fear, thanks to The Shawn Bentley Orphaned Works Act no matter how horribly, embarrassing the use of your photos gets, you won't be able to sue for even one penny more than the cost of a stock photo!

That's right, regardless of the damages done by having your child's photo used in a public awareness campaign, no matter how humiliating that campaign is, this bill limits the total court ordered award to a 'reasonable licensing fee' and the guilty party will be allowed to continue to use your child's photo!

For the Artist

There's nothing in the Orphaned Works Act that does anything that Section 104 of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act doesn't already do a thousand times better.

The problem is that the Orphaned Works Act isn't about the preservation or the restoration of our historical documents and photos. That particular wording isn't even in there!

Instead this bill defines an 'Orphaned Work' as any work that doesn't have the creator's information clearly attached and who's owner can not be found by searching the Copyright office. Never mind that the Copyright office does not have a searchable database or image recognition software! Our Senator's feel confident that corporate America can fill this void . . . at a reasonable price, of course!

No, this bill is all about legalizing copyright infringement and then rewarding the infringer with unlimited use! If this bill passes, your only reward for diligently protecting your copyright will be a 'reasonable licensing fee' whether you agree with the pilfered use or not!

Why would our Representatives do something like this? The short answer is, lower and fewer payments for artistic works, and less need for new hires. The longer answer is tied to the full name of this bill and who wrote it.

S.2913 is otherwise known as: The Shawn Bentley Orphaned Works Act 2008. Shawn Bentley was the VP of Intellectual Property and head lobbyist for Time Warner Cable.

A quick Google search will show that Shawn Bentley was a lawyer and lobbyist for none other than Time Warner Cable. As the VP in charge of intellectual property, his job description included *acquisition*, management and protection of Time Warner's intellectual property.

Please visit our website

www.defendyourart.com

If you’re a creative of any type or a parent you need to know about the Shawn Bentley Orphaned Works Act… It’s our time to stand up and fight to make sure that our work and photos of our childern are safe.