~Megamandinga

Artists , modders, and general creative people please spread the word. Guys please spread the word.

Guys, its important for you to be informed of whats going on, especially when its has to do with the industry you work in. Please sign this petition and write emails, letters, and even call you congressman and state representatives and tell them you are against the Orphan Works Bill. What it comes down to is quite simply; large companies and "special" interests want to get rid of the current copyright law that we have been using all this time. Currently, when you create art work (be it a photograph, 3d render, animation, logo, etc.) it automatically becomes your intellectual property. What these "special" interests want, is to get rid of that law and make it so that YOU have to register and copyright EVERYTHING you make (a 3d character, photograph, logo, a new website idea, etc) and YOU would have to pay for a copyright for EVERY single creative thing you come up with. If you dont copyright it (which is expensive as hell), this law makes all your work "up for grabs", so a company can say "hmm....this guy's artwork looks cool, lets use it for our game" they will be able to do that without getting your permission or paying you anything. Why? Because if you DID NOT pay hundreds of dollars to copyright and register all your work, this law turns that work into whats called "orphaned" work, essentially making it perfectly legal for ANYONE to steal your work and ideas and use it for commercial purposes without having to pay you anything. Its legalized stealing. The large companies that would make money off this new law are lobbying hard to make this happen in congress, so we as artists and creators, have to step up and fight off this legislation. If you DONT say or do anything about it, the large companies will win and all of us, including you, will be screwed in the future. Once this becomes law, forget about it, it will never be the way it was before when everything you create is YOUR intellectual property. Sign the petition and write, better yet, spam the **** out of your politicians to let them know you are against this new "law".

Also, forward this to every artist you know; co workers, musicians, 3d artists, designers, etc.






---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Illustrators Partnership <illustratorspartnership@cnymail.com>
Date: Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at 2:36 PM
Subject: Update: A Million People Against the Orphan Works Bill
To: IPA-OW3





FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP


A Million People Against the Orphan Works Bill
[link]


The petition is now the 7th most active on [link]
Let's shoot to make it first.
Please keep the signatures coming by forwarding this email to any interested parties.


Remember: you don't have to be an artist, photographer or performer to be threatened by this bill.
Anything you've ever posted on the internet would be exposed to commercial infringement unless you've registered it with a couple of large corporate databases.
These databases would then control access to your intellectual property.
That threatens the passive copyright protection all citizens now take for granted.
And that threatens our personal property, freedom of speech and the right to privacy embodied in copyright law.


For more information about Orphan Works, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists
[link]


If you received our mail as a forwarded message, and wish to be added to our mailing list,
email us at: ipa@twcny.rr.com Place "Add Name" in the subject line, and provide your name
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