US Orphan Works

There has been a huge amount of talk recently about the Orphan works bill(s) going through the Senate and the House of Representatives in the US. Even the NUJ has taken an interest and we discussed it at the Freelance Industrial Council last week - confirming a stance to be taken publicly and scripting a statement to be released.

As everyone (photographic creators anyway) understandably believe that the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works” Bill is flawed; one would think that this would not last long and be thrown out, much as its predecessor was two years ago. Not a bit of it.

The original bill is discussed here, outlining what orphan works are and those organisations and people who want access to them. It’s by Lisa Shaftel, National Advocacy Committee Chairperson of the Graphic artists Guild.

With the original bill kicked into touch many of us forgot all about ‘orphans’, but sadly it is back with a vengeance.

Veteran photographer Tony Sleep talks about the possible consequences here. Whilst Dan Heller (another respected commentator) feels that there is less to worry about in his blog

I have yet to find any creator who thinks that the bill(s) is/are a good idea. After all ‘Bentley’ does not solve any problems that photographers (for instance) have. Actually, the opposite would appear to be the case. What I see is that if we are to protect ourselves (UK photographers that is) from our work being used legally in the States without our permission and for no reward, we have to do the following:

1. Follow the US market including monitoring all publications and websites.
2. Register all work, future, current and past, with the US Copyright Registry.
3. Register all work, future, current and past, with the yet to be established databases.

All these will have a cost to us individually in time and money. Alternatively we can just sit back and watch the US market and just hope that our work is not affected.

Personally, I would like to stick to the basics. No one should be allowed to use or publish a photograph during its period of copyright protection without the specific permission of the creator, copyright holder, or the copyright holder’s agent. Magazines, newspapers, books, websites - all must have permission. And it should be the same with music, films and software etc. Is this such a difficult concept?

© Pete Jenkins
www.petejenkins.co.uk
www.photographerspro.eu/pete_jenkins/
US Orphan Works